


I Said I Would

by felicia_angel



Series: Dragontamers [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Duelist Kingdom, F/M, Love/Hate, M/M, Mai the big sister, Pegasus is a douche, TW: Homophobia, TW: Racism, bandit keith is a bad person, female!Jounouchi, no seriously he is, seriously all of those trigger warnings are JUST for bandit keith, slow build romance, the early rules for these duels made no sense, tw: misogynistic/rape fantasy language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 10:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicia_angel/pseuds/felicia_angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part Two of Dragontamers: Another holder of a Millennium Item, Maximilian Pegasus, pushes Yugi into fighting in Duel Monsters, a game he swore off after the confrontation with Kaiba. Jounouchi is quiet and doing what she can to possibly get the prize money, for reasons she’s keeping from her friends. Anzu and Bakura join to cheer on their friends, while trying to figure out how they can be helpful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maximillian Pegasus

Chapter 1: Maximilian Pegasus

 The summer after their eventful meeting with Shadii had been quiet. While Yugi was starting to now feel more comfortable with the other side of him, he also noticed that less and less games were being played. The trend now was Duel Monsters.

It wasn’t surprising. A revamp of the game’s mechanics and play had resulted in better traps, spells, and monsters. There weren’t as many of the higher-level monsters, of course, and none of the new prints had any Blue-Eyes White Dragons, meaning that Kaiba’s three were the only ones in play. Many of the first-edition monsters that had no special abilities weren’t reprinted, while the others were, so new players could know about any advantages they had, instead of having to read through the rules and hope for the best.

The other thing was how well the Solid State Illusions software had done. While few could get the boxes as small as the ones in KaibaLand, which fell under a patent that Kaiba himself and wasn’t for sale, others like Industrial Illusions, or Capsule Monster’s Paradis company, had worked to create their own arenas. Other games were also doing what they could to get into the market, though it was apparent that none could compete against KaibaCorp and the Solid Illusions that Kaiba had created.

Still, despite the money gotten from the holographic equipment and the money spent in KaibaLand, Yugi had heard that there were some problems between some of the stockholders and the primary holder, Mokuba. Kaiba being in a coma of sort and losing a public game to Yugi had, it seemed, caused a bit of a stir among the older members of the board who had remained before the grand opening.

“You should stop being so gloomy about it,” Jounouchi said as she finished sweeping up outside of Grandpa’s shop, “I mean, the bastard got what was coming to him.”

“Jounouchi, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Well, it’s true. The bastard played with fire and got burned. And after what happened with Death-T? I’m not trusting him, even _if_ he comes back all up for repenting.” She finished up and let out a breath before taking off the apron. “Well, I’m off. I signed up for the Duelist tournament in our area.”

Yugi blinked, surprised. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jounouchi shrugged, looking away and appearing to be conflicted about something before giving him a smile. “I just wanted to do this on my own. Besides, I’m never going to learn unless I do it on my own.”

“I guess. Still, I would’ve come to cheer you on.”

“It’s ok. If I win regional tournament, though, you can come by and cheer me then!”

Yugi frowned at the request while Jounouchi ran off.  Neighborhood tournaments were normally much smaller and more intimate then regional…why would she want him to go to that one and not one where she’d be able to see him cheering for her?

A thought hit him too quickly to ignore, and he let out a sigh of frustration. Because he and Jounouchi had been spending so much time together, there was a rumor going around that they were dating. There was also another, nastier rumor that said Yugi helped Jounouchi with any game she played, which was why they tended to win.

Of course, that whole idea was just silly. Jounouchi had decent luck with some games, but she never asked for help and often figured things out on her own. The last time he had helped her was just explaining that having a Monster-heavy deck would do her no good – most Duel Monster decks had a balance of Monsters, Spells (to either help the monsters or hinder others), and Traps (to protect her own monsters or to defeat the others). She’d considered before rebuilding some of her Deck. Yugi guessed her playing in the neighborhood group, and hopefully further up, would mean her Deck was a bit better than before. His own was coming together as well, and he was doing what he could to have a balanced Deck. Mostly, and on the insistence of his other self, he built it more and more around the Dark Magician, as well as semi-powerful monsters and useful magic and ritual cards.

Truthfully, though, the Deck was less Yugi’s then it was his other self’s. Yugi knew how to play Duel Monsters, and was good at it in his own rights, but also had let his other side build it after they’d seen Shadii and heard about the strange shadowy figure and the run-in Jounouchi had had with the Sphinx. Bakura had also been looking more and more into the history of the Millennium Items, and seemed very worried about it.

“So far, I can say that there are probably seven of them,” he told Yugi once, “Each had a specific purpose and was held by a high-ranking member of the Pharaoh’s court, during the early Middle Kingdom. In a span of about two reigns, there was peace as well as a lack of tomb-robberies. However, something occurred during the rule of a lost Pharaoh, and it lead to the rise of another one, Seti or Seto. Over time, the Items slowly disappeared. There are a lot of theories as to why, but most seem to point to a power-struggle in the middle of Seti’s reign. Afterwards, the Items are lost.” Bakura sighed and looked down at the Millennium Ring. It was beginning to waken again, meaning he had to carry it with him in his bag, though he was certain he could leave it off and be safe for a while longer. “We know of four…the Ring, the Puzzle, the Scales, and the Ankh.”

“Yami thought that someone holding two Items, even if they didn’t have a spirit attached to them, might be dangerous,” Yugi told Bakura, worried. “Considering how Shadii acted, and how he set up the Shadow Game…”

Bakura nodded. For all his other side had stacked the game, he’d also not tried to influence it more than necessary. At the same time, RPG games, and having a role as the DM in any of them, could easily go to a person’s head. Bakura had a least one friend who was like that.

“And he called Ammut,” Bakura pointed out, “that’s dangerous. From what I read, only Anubis or Osiris could control him.”

Yugi sighed as he came back to the present, wondering about what was to come. Duel Monsters getting so popular, and a lot of people asking about where he was…

He didn’t want to really Duel anyone, especially not Kaiba. He didn’t have any real quarrel with him, outside of Kaiba taking the Blue Eyes that Grandpa had. But his other side had more of a standing battle against Kaiba, wanting to prove himself and enjoying the fight. For now, Yugi would just have to hope that Kaiba would wake up someday, and that whatever contest between the other boy and his other side would be played out.

\--

Jounouchi sighed as she got home, going into her bedroom to rest up. She’d attempted that ‘Win a Million’ game, and of course Yami had come out when Yugi realized the guy who ran the game was corrupt and trying to make her look bad. Of course, ITV was also run by jerks who didn’t give her the money, despite her win, and so that avenue had closed.

She’d taken up Duel Monsters, and of course the first thing that had come up was that she was Yugi’s girlfriend. So they’d wanted to ‘see what he’d shown her’ and ‘how well he’d taught her’ when Dueling.

It was enough to make her nearly slap some of those bastards. Yes, she was a girl and, for whatever reason, they were few and far-between in playing the game. Consider that there were some really weird rules when it came to ‘3D Duel Monsters’ vs. card Duel Monsters, she’d done her best in going from the card game – which was mostly based on the cards you pulled and using them in combination – and the 3D version that involved if they were flying vs. ground, which element was stronger, etc. And with only 2000 life points per-game, they tended to last a shorter period of time. So the first few draws were critical, as were having good combinations.

Or, in the case of a lot of the guys she’d played, having ‘kill you in a turn’ card combos that they just had to pull to win. On the upside, since she did Duel Yugi and Anzu a great deal, she knew how to avoid said ‘one turn attacks’ pretty well, and never let her temper get the better of her.

On the downside, one of the Duelists had gotten under her skin really quickly after realizing she was ‘Yugi’s girlfriend’ and spending most of the time asking where her ‘boyfriend’ was and what she was thinking.

“Duel Monsters is a boy’s game. Girls don’t have the brains for it.”

Layla knocked on the door and came in, frowning as she looked over at the Deck that Jounouchi was working on. “I take it the Duels went badly?”

“They actually went pretty well,” Jounouchi said, smiling. “I beat most of the guys there.”

“That’s good. So why are you here moping?”

“I…kinda got disqualified.”

“Should I ask?”

“The guy was a jerk. He said I didn’t have the brains to go any further in Dueling, and should leave it all to my boyfriend.”

Layla frowned. “I thought you didn’t _have_ a boyfriend.”

“I don’t. Doesn’t stop anyone from thinking Yugi and I are dating. Or that he’d tell me how to win a game.”

“Wait, he said you were a crap duelist, claimed you couldn’t win without Yugi there…so…why are you disqualified?”

“He may have said some things about ‘teaching me’ after he managed a cheap-shot to win.”

“Ok…that sounds like it should disqualify--.”

“I may have also beat the living crap out of him when he touched my butt.”

Layla was silent for a long moment.

“I’m beginning to see why you dress up like a guy for these things.”

Jounouchi smiled a bit and looked down at her outfit. Yeah, she was in her jeans, shoes, a loose-fitting shirt that had once hidden her boobs, and a jacket. Still, even with her hair tied back and a cap on, the name ‘Katsuye’ was too feminine to miss, and she’d considered misspelling it a few times in the past. Of course, with the community of Duelists still small enough to consist of people that knew the only Jounouchi in the area was a ‘girlfriend’ of Yugi, the disguise didn’t really help.

“I’m getting a bit worried,” Layla pointed out, sitting next to her as Katsuye undid the laces of her sneakers, “What’s gotten you so upset you keep trying to get money? Normally I’d say your dad did something stupid, but he’s been doing alright and managed to pay off the last of his debts. And this is getting a lot of money quickly, not enough for small debts.”

Jounouchi swallowed and looked down before saying, “I’m just…getting ready for the future, that’s all.”

“Katsuye…”

“It’s something I have to do, Layla. That’s all.”

\--

“Disqualified?”

“The guys there were all talk and no show,” Jounouchi muttered as they sat around the TV to watch the Duel Monsters Championship Tournament. She hadn’t mentioned what happened to Anzu or the others yet, just to Yugi. She’d then had to tell Yami that going after some hack Duelist she could easily smack around wasn’t worth her time.

For all that Yugi was getting used to his other side, Jounouchi was still dealing with the uneasy feeling he sometimes gave her. Yami wasn’t at all like Yugi, and that always became clear to her when they had to deal with bullies and perverts. Also the fact that Yami _still_ held that ‘you owe me for Hirutani’ bit whenever she got angry at him for taking Yugi’s place. She didn’t give a flying crap what Yami had done to the others, or why Hirutani had disappeared. She did give a crap about the other side of Yugi being shadier then some of the bastards she’d had to deal with when her father had still been in debt for gambling.

Still, since Anzu, Bakura, Honda and Miho didn’t know the full extent of what _had_ happened to disqualify Jounouchi, they just joked about how lame she was at Duel Monsters. Jounouchi took it and didn’t point out that the few times Anzu had beaten her, it was with one of the two-card beat-ups that most guys used to justify their weak-ass cards. Like Haga and Ryuzaki, the two Duelists who were up for the finals. Ryuzaki used all dinosaurs and a few dragons, as well as cards to augment them as needed, while Haga was all about the card-combos and psyching out his opponents.

Jounouchi didn’t like either of them, and Yugi seemed to not really care who won, seeing both as gimmicky. For all Jounouchi’s deck of warrior-types, she at least tried to use others if needed, like the Time Wizard (a gambling-based card) that Yugi had given her after a match that she’d been lucky enough to win.

After watching the tournament on TV, Yugi’s grandfather reminded him of a strange package that had come in the mail today. Jounouchi frowned as they looked over at it, Yugi opening it to see an 8mm video, a strange glove with some star-shaped slots on it, two star-like items, and nothing else.

“Do you have a tape player for that?” Anzu asked, Yugi nodding and going to get it as Jounouchi tried hard not to think of the tape she’d gotten a few weeks ago. She’d done her best to not tell Dad, hoping that he’d worry about it as much if he didn’t know, but…

Well, even after all these years of not contacting Shizuka or only visiting on holidays, and the few times that Jounouchi had actually _dressed up_ for said holidays, Koisaya Kawai was still a bit of a bitch to her eldest daughter and former husband. So telling her sister that the time had come, and her eyesight would officially be gone unless they raised a ton of money…nearly a million or more yen for an operation with only a 50% chance of working, if that.

The VHS player was easily set up, before Yugi put in the small tape and they waited as the static started before the white-haired American appeared on screen. “Ah, Yugi-boy! How nice to see you!” Despite the accent, the way he spoke was a bit annoying, and he seemed quite happy to talk about how sad he was that Yugi hadn’t participated in the tournaments, especially after his defeat of Kaiba. He finally challenged Yugi to a game against the pre-recorded video, making everyone frown in confusion before Yugi started off the game.

The minute his first card disappeared into the screen, something seemed to happen and then—

“Grandpa!”

Jounochi blinked herself awake, confused as to what happened, before she briefly saw an image of Yugi’s grandfather on the tape, right before the whole thing stopped.

\--

Yugi isn’t quite sure what happened, besides the fact that the minute his Koumori Dragon disappeared, Yami had taken over. Yami is silent beyond saying that Pegasus was using something called the Millennium Eye, making the grand total of Millennium Items reach five that they knew. He also said that Pegasus had used subliminal messages and very-rare cards, or newer ones that few had access to, in order to stall until time was up and Yami had lost.

The group had rewound the tape in the hopes it had some signs, but the thing was just static, with no sign of Yugi’s grandfather. His body had been rushed to the hospital, and while his grandfather wasn’t brain-dead, he was in a similar state to how Kaiba had been.

Yugi could all but _feel_ the self-loathing rolling off his other self, though he wasn’t sure if this was due to the loss or because of what the doctors had said. While his other self had started to warm to Yugi, and they talked a bit more, when able to, Yugi found that his other side was still very proud, and still very protective of Yugi and his friends. As such, Yami seemed very worried about Jounouchi and how she was acting. For the past few weeks before Pegasus’ attack, she’d been attempting a lot of ‘get rich quick’ things, and now seemed unnaturally intent on the ‘Honor of the King’s Right – Great Wealth’ card that Yugi had found a day after Pegasus’ challenge.

There were five cards that he’d gotten, and frowning as he looked over them. Each seemed to have something about Duelist Kingdom – “Voyage to the Kingdom” had a date and time, along with a picture of a boat at a harbor. “Duelist Kingdom” was a picture of an island with various microclimates and a castle at one end. “Duelist Glove’, which meant the odd leather glove he’d gotten along with the video, was also a card, the instructions saying that all Duelists had to have at least one Star Chip on the wrist band. But the last two were…well, the ‘Honor of the King’s Left’ was blank, and it worried Yugi in a way that made him uncomfortable.

The date of Duelist Kingdom was for a 48 hour tournament over the course of a weekend, meaning he wouldn’t miss much of school, at least, and it being a week away also meant he could get ready for it and build his Deck. He considers adding in Exodia from the Deck his grandfather built, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea. Summoning Exodia once was enough, he thinks, and it’s not really _his_ cards. On top of that, he’d feel bad for taking the cards from his grandfather, even if it’s in the service of retrieving his soul.

Jounouchi helps as best she can, and while there is little information about Duelist Kingdom, there are some rumors online about it, as well as fears about how secretive Pegasus is about the whole thing. Pegasus’ life, up until a few years ago, have been almost always open. Even when his father shunned him for living with a man, and for the two running to marry in one of the few places it was legal, Pegasus was open about how things worked in his company. If anything, he spent more time doing designs for the original Duel Monsters then anything else.

But then, the man had died, and Pegasus had withdrawn for a while, letting Croquet, his trusted right-hand man, deal with the day-to-day work of Industrial Illusions while he traveled. Then, he’d returned from a trip, seemingly changed, and started to focus more on the company. He’d become ruthless, humiliating Keith Howard, attempting corporate espionage and sabotage, and now was doing a very-secret tournament with apparently only forty top-rank Duelists.

None of which were willing to talk a lot online either. Some seemed more interested in the money and not wanting competition, while others were like Yugi – they had quit for personal reasons and were now being dragged back into the fray.

Yugi wondered how many of those Pegasus had tricked, or had family trapped like he did. He didn’t think it was many, but it had to be a few, at least. He also wondered about what was going on with Jounouchi, and if he should offer up one of his star chips for her to join them at Duelist Kingdom.

 ** _That would handicap us, but I don’t see a problem with that point,_** Yugi heard his other self muse, **_and I would like a familiar face among the competitors. Besides, it would allow her to prove herself._**

_If she goes with us, she’ll still be seen as my girlfriend, or that I’m helping her._

**_Not if we stay silent during her duels. If neither of us help the other in a Duel, then it will at least prove that we aren’t helping the other. And whatever her reasoning, we still need to help her._ **

Yugi finally nodded, agreeing with Yami’s thinking. Jounouchi had to be shown as competent in her own right, or she’d never get out from their shadow.

\--

“You’re joking!”

“We talked about it, and…I don’t know why you need the money so suddenly. I’m not asking for an explanation either. We just want to know that you’ll do everything you can to prove yourself,” Yugi explained, holding out the small star chip. He had decided to tell her the next day at school, while Bakura muttered about possibly joining them on the trip due to wanting to know more about the Millennium Ring. Anzu wants to join to ensure her friends were alright, and even Honda was talking of going, though Miho wasn’t so sure, as her parents wanted her to take care of the new dog. And as much as Layla wanted to come as well, she had obligations at the college, and all of that had to happen over the weekend.

Jounouchi is silent, as if thinking something through, before finally managing a shaky smile. “Thank you.”


	2. Entering the Kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pegasus' invitation makes things difficult, and Jounouchi's reluctance to admit her own problems in the Dueling world also causes issues, specifically when they are confronted by the sexy Mai Kujaku and the always-annoying Insector Haga.

“I know you feel like you need to do this, Katsuye,” her father said, shifting as she got dressed and ready for the late-night departure, “and I trust Yugi and his rather psychotic other-half to get things done. I’m just worried about that Pegasus guy.”

Jounouchi nodded as she put on her cap and zipped up her jacket, a bit glad that the sports bra managed to hide some of her girlish figure. While Shizuka was turning into a beautiful young girl, Jounouchi…well, there were times she wished she’d never hit puberty. Looking more like a boy had it’s perks, and Jounouchi couldn’t really pull off dressing up like a guy – not when so many knew she was a girl, and especially not when she was starting to show all the signs of being a girl.

“Katsuye.”

“I know Yugi will be able to win, Dad,” Jounouchi tells him as she packs a few things. She hadn’t heard about food being provided, so getting some good campground stuff might be in order. Plus, Honda had started doing the whole ‘survival’ thing and was trying to show off how well he could to Miho. She didn’t want to get poisoned ‘cause he decided to test out his skills on her or the others, “and despite everything, I’m still a good Duelist. We can do this. We get the money, put it towards Shizuka’s operation…”

“Your mother will ask.”

“Mom can ask all she damned well pleases, I don’t have to tell her anything,” Jounouchi muttered, not wanting to think about her mother, or the fact that she’d told Dad about Shizuka’s problems when Jounouchi and Shizuka had been working to keep it from him. Dad didn’t need any more stress on his life, not after he’d been working to keep sober. But Mom liked to be a bitch about it, and probably enjoyed the pain she was causing dad over it.

Dad moved and finally pulled Jounouchi into a hug, kissing her forehead before saying, “I expect you to come back in one piece, or I’ll take on everyone. Even that guy named for a winged horse.”

Jounouchi chuckled and grabbed her items. “Yeah, I guessed you’d say that. You and Layla both will make sure I’m avenged.”

“We will. You know that.”

Jounouchi wished it was a joke, but somehow, she doubted that. And after what she’d seen, she wondered if there wasn’t some other user of Millennium Items who was invested in her continued life and…well, if not sanity, then at least something like her health.

“We’ll be alright, Dad. Promise.”

\--

The pier was packed with Duelists and their friends and family. Still, there were only a few who were actually with someone, with the rest looking like they were all happy about the tournament and event. That included the Japanese champion and runner-up, as well as a bleached-blonde woman who happily bounced over to Yugi and gave him a few appraising looks, getting Anzu to glare at her as Jounouchi rolled her eyes. Still, it was nice to see that there was another woman Duelist on the island, even if it was an older woman who looked far more interested in showing off her boobs to the teen and adolescent boys in order to win at a card game.

 _A game that’s offering up three million for the reward,_ she reminded herself, holding the Star Chip tightly as one of the men, a suited-up goon who looked familiar, shouted out from the ship, “Attention Duelists! Industrial Illusions welcomes you to this tournament!” There was quiet before the man continued, “We have researched your tournament records and unofficial Duels, and have hand-picked the best Duelists Japan has to offer! A light shines above each of your heads, where any one of you could reach it!”

Jounouchi officially decided this guy was an idiot. After his big rallying speech, the blond woman let out a loud laugh, commenting about how this was like a pep rally.

Of course, she looks over at Yugi and leans down, while Anzu mutters about ‘tacky women’ and the woman says to Jounouchi, “You must be his girlfriend.”

“If you mean I’m a girl, and his friend, then yes. Anything else…nope.”

The woman smirked before saying, “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you because we’re both girls. It doesn’t matter if my opponents a kid or not…anyone who stands in my way will be crushed.”

Jounouchi snorted and managed a smile. “You always so ruthless?”

“You have to be. Some of these boys are idiots.” A longer pause. “I’m Kujaku Mai.”

“Jounouchi Katsuye,” Jounouchi answered back, “See you on the island.”

Mai chuckled, amused, and headed onto the ship as everyone else started to board. Honda and Bakura let out a sigh, breathing in her perfume as Anzu glared at them and called them idiots. Jounouchi looked over at Yugi and smiled.

“You’ll be ok?”

“I’d tell you if I wasn’t, Yugi. Plus, Mai’s got nothing on Layla. Worse comes to worse, I can take her down.”

\--

For being a billionaire with a major company and offering up a 3 million dollar reward, Pegasus was a cheapskate. For one, the supposedly upscale ocean liner that he’d gotten for the forty some odd Duelists only had two actual suites – both of which went to Haga and Ryusaki. For second, the ‘camping’ area where the rest of them were staying was pretty much communal. So the ones who wanted to rest were having to try and do so while others were either being loud, doing some trading or non-official Dueling, or attempting to figure out why there weren’t more rooms or, at least, bunks.

Jounouchi was livid, as were Anzu, Mai, and a few other women who’d either come with their Duelist friend or were Duelists themselves. What pissed off Jounouchi the most, though, was Ryusaki coming up to say to Mai, “Hey, babe, I got a suite if you wanna crash there.” Mai batting her eyelashes and saying, all the while leaning over to give the perv the _best view_ of her cleavage, “really?” before heading off with him did nothing for Jounouchi’s mood.

 She and Yugi went to the buffet area to talk, most of the others finding their own places as well to talk, attempt to sleep, or trade cards. Jounouchi frowned as she looked through her own with Yugi, her friend pulling out a card labeled ‘Time Wizard’.

“What’s it do?” she asked, reading through some of the description below about its abilities. The card seemed vaguely gamble-based, since in normal games it required a coin-toss to see if the card’s “Time Magic” worked.

“Well, I saw you have Baby Dragon, so this one would allow it to turn into Thousand Dragon,” Yugi explained, pointing to the Thousand Dragon that Jounouchi had gotten. She frowned, as this version was a bit older and, thus, didn’t have the same description as some of her newer cards. “Usually people just use it for the main power, when it uses Time Magic to do a one-kill hit for all the monsters on the field. The main problem is that calling the coin right, especially if you have a lot of monsters on the field, or if they’re strong.”

Jounouchi was about to nod when there was a sudden snicker from nearby, Jounouchi slipping the card into her Deck and looking over at the doorway as Haga came over to the table, glancing at Jounouchi once with an eye that she was seeing far too often whenever she decided to pull out her Deck and challenge someone to a Duel. It was almost enough to make her want to remind these stuck-up asshole nerds that she picked warriors because she’d been in a _male gang_ and had only been at the top because she could kick everyone else’s ass but Hirutani. And that was _before_ she met Layla, who quite possibly had a black belt in Jeet Kun Do.

“I see you’re getting in a final training session with your girlfriend,” Haga said, mostly looking at Yugi and not Jounouchi. It was starting to irk Jounouchi, how easily she was dismissed off-hand for her gender and her association with Yugi. She briefly considered it to be the fault of Yami and his inability to do anything in a small-scale, but that felt a little unfair. After all, he hadn’t put most of the Duelists here in their places yet, having decided instead to fight Kaiba in a way that _didn’t_ involve torment and coercion.

It’s kinda sad that they got pulled into this. At least Yami was starting to learn some restraint. Well, also he trusted her and wasn’t a condescending asshole like Haga was, who seemed intent on leering at her and giggling like he was the best thing ever.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Yugi said, frowning and obviously confused by Haga, or acting that way to not get Yami to threaten anyone while on a cruise ship. “We’re just friends.”

“Of course,” Haga muttered, though his leer remained, “after all, she’s so boyish. You’d want someone more like that Mai lady. At least she shows off the goods.”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth, or are you just playing tough?” Jounouchi finally asked, considering if she could get away with beating up the champ of Duel Monsters in Japan, and if it was really worth the effort.

Haga glared at her, as if her making a comment was supposed to be some sort of a personal insult to him. “You really think I should take that from some nobody Duelist who can’t even take a joke?”

Oh, that’s it. “Which one? The one where I’m supposed to make you all a bento because you’re too stupid to make your own, or the one where you grab my ass and think it’s a ‘compliment’?”

“WHAT?”

To their credit, Yugi managed to stay in control, but the small flash of red was enough to make Jounouchi nearly back off. Haga, though, either didn’t see it or didn’t realize that Jounouchi had him in height and skills.

“Please, like you could even make something good! It’s not like anyone’s gonna play against you anyway, considering that your boyfriend’s gonna just tell you what to do. And especially not after you smacked Jin around for giving you a ‘well done’. Or did you think you couldn’t make it past the neighborhood?”

“Trust me, that wasn’t a ‘well done’, not unless you count getting felt-up while you’re trying to be respectful to a room full of guys like you, who are just picking on me ‘cause any girlfriend you have would have you trained to pee sitting down.”

Haga looked almost upset that she was getting so angry at him, letting out a huff like he was too good for the conversation he started. “Please. Anyone can see you’re nothing but some stupid Yankee girl. No one would think of dating such a crass, _foreign_ little half-breed like you.”

“Haga,” Yami’s voice was low and dangerous, making both stop and look over at him as he glared at the insect. “I’m taking you out first. I won’t let anyone talk to Jounouchi like that.”

Something hit the last of Jounouchi’s switches, and there were twin sounds of palm hitting cheeks. Yami looked surprised, barely wincing at the slap. Haga, meantime, had jerked far too hard with the force of the slap, and looked ready to cry, his glasses askew and his body shaking.

“I…the…”

“Jounou—“

“SCREW YOU BOTH!” Jounouchi screamed, storming out of the room and onto the gangway. She passed by Ryuzaki, who looked upset and gave her all the room she needed to storm along the outside. If she noticed his bag of belongings with him, she didn’t comment on it.

“Oi, Katsuye-chan!”

“ _Leave me the fuck al—_ “ Mai pulled Jounouchi into her room with a happy, “Oh, you’ve got to see how _cute_ the suites are!” before the younger girl could even protest.

“The hell are you doing!?” Jounouchi managed before Mai held out a small, unopened bag of the travel tissues.

“Sit. We have the whole room. I’m about to go round up all the other women and see about getting in some hot coco or other suitably ‘girly’ things before we put a ‘no boys allowed’ sign outside and use up all the hot water.”

Jounouchi considered leaving before Mai waved at her. “Sit before you fall down, dear. It’s been a tough night.”

“But--.”

“Trust me, getting worked up about those guys isn’t going to do you any favors. And the insect is going to go crying to the big boss man about how mean you were, just like his other friends.”

Jounouchi sat in the overstuffed chair, noticing the scented cards just as she realized she’d been running around, in the cold, outside, without her jacket or anything but her Deck and her anger. She put it down and managed to open up the tissues before the tears turned into full-on sobbing. If Mai took notice, or had gone off to do anything, Jounouchi didn’t notice it until she was mostly cried out and had used up most of the tissues.

Jounouchi hated crying. She looked horrible when it happened, and she’d never seen the point to it. At the same time, she’d always cried at the weirdest things, after Shizuka left. It was like everything built and built until a sunset or puppy or _something_ stupid like Yami saying he was going to actually do something _nice_ for her and not just be a creepy bastard that she had to deal with because he was in Yugi and—

Mai handed over a full, unopened box. “I used to run card games, over in Vegas. It was a good gig, you know, but sometimes, you’d get offers. It happened to all the girls, but if anyone got too creepy, even the bosses, there was always someone to turn to. When Pegasus put out the Duel Monster thing, it wasn’t a good gambling game, but even with me dealing cards all day, or spinning roulette…well, gave me something to do. Little childish, yes, but it was something. Plus this was back when all the adults were using it in a more…underground…sort of way. You know, like that Bandit Keith guy or whatever.” She snickered. “The rules weren’t as easy to come by then. When they got better and better, you got it out and into more and more homes, so more and more kids. Still, even back in the underground days, I was lucky. Of course, like a lot of kids, I got caught up in building some sort of ‘theme’ deck.” She shook her head, like she couldn’t believe her own stupidity. A glass of water sat near Jounouchi, though she didn’t remember Mai putting it there.

“You always get people saying something about you, because you’re a girl. Everyone takes it a different way. The other ladies, some of them got out of playing because they got harassed enough at work, why bother where there _wasn’t_ security? Others, to this day, won’t by anything from Industrial Illusions. Or they won’t even think about playing Duel Monsters in any venue but with each other.” She sighed, leaning back. “Then, there’s me. I looked around Vegas and saw a lot of me who liked my body. I wasn’t about to hide it. Never saw a reason to, when I realized how well I could dupe a guy with a wink and the right perfume.” Mai chuckled. “I’m a regular star. A real Monroe-type girl.” She sighed and rubbed Jounouchi’s back, a sad smile on her face. “Of course, problem is with her types, you always have to show off to someone, even when you’re alone. It’s rather sad, getting cast in a role and having everyone expect you to play it.”

Jounouchi was silent, still feeling horrible but at least having stopped crying, and Mai smiled at her. “I’m sure you’re friend will be here to talk to you soon. But I wasn’t kidding about the hot coco or the other women or the whole girl’s night. Honestly, for a boy from Vegas money, Pegasus is a cheapskate. I could give you all the dirt, if you wanted.”

“I hate gossip,” Jounouchi managed, hiccupping a bit and taking the offering water.

“What about that other girl who was with you all…the one who looked so angry that I was able to laugh off the whole ‘attention duelists’ pep rally speech?”

“I think she might hate you.”

“Oh, then I _know_ she’ll want to hear about Pegasus.” Mai winked. “Girls who hate other girls for being skanks or feminine are always the ones who aren’t sure about themselves.” Mai wrinkled her nose a bit. “Are you going to wear that during the event?”

Jounouchi frowned at her. “I like it. It’s comfortable.”

Mai paused and considered before saying slowly, “Are you more comfortable as a boy or a girl?”

Jounouchi blinked at the question and was silent before saying, “I’m a girl. Why shouldn’t I be comfortable as one?”

“I worked in Vegas, dear. Trust me, the whole ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ is very true. It’s both an eye-opening experience and quite a bit of shock.” She once more motioned to Jounouchi. “Are you still dressing like that?”

“yes.”

“Because it’s comfortable, or because it’s harder to tell you’re a girl from afar?”

Jounouchi was silent, uncertain of what to say. It was comfortable, but she’d also learned it was _safe_. Few people called after her or paid attention to some weird boy riding his bike and delivering papers or hanging out in the arcade with Yugi and the others. It was…easy, and on top of that…well, she wasn’t exactly the girl that her mom or anyone else in her life before Layla and Anzu and Yugi had wanted. She’d gotten used to being told she wasn’t ‘feminine’ enough, wasn’t ever going to be a good daughter or wife to anyone. So she’d just…rebelled and worn jeans and boy’s stuff when possible. Dad hadn’t cared. He still didn’t, as it was – if his Katsuye wanted to dress as a boy on the weekend, she could. If she wanted to dress up, she could. So long as it was her choice, he was happy.

Mai frowned when there was a knock at the door, and sounded both flirty and unwelcoming in such a way that Jounouchi was actually impressed. “Oh, it’s _Yugi_. What do _you_ want, grand champion who isn’t one?”

“I came to give Jounouchi her bags,” Yami’s voice traveled through, carrying the obvious undercurrents that he knew Mai was unhappy with him and he really _didn’t care_. “She left in a hurry. I was also wondering if I could speak to her in private.”

Mai took the items and deposited them, considering in her continued ‘flirty’ way before she said, “Well, I suppose I can let you. I was going to round up the girls and possible homosexuals for a nice round of gossip and offering a room that we could sleep in.” She moved aside so Yami could see that the suit had two standard-size beds, a couch with a pull-out bed, and a cot. “We were also planning on doing normal girly stuff, like braiding our hair and complaining about the idiots that call themselves _boys_ on the boat. I should be back in ten minutes. Will that be enough time?”

Yami seemed to understand the unspoken threat of ‘it will be enough time or I will throw you overboard’ that Mai had added in besides the ‘I would and have screwed men bigger and better then you and left them without any cash or pants’. He didn’t look all too impressed by her, but nodded and walked in, allowing Mai to take the key, her Deck (‘wouldn’t want you two to know too much about me…after all, tomorrow morning we’re _rivals’_ ) before leaving.

Jounouchi hadn’t really managed to get over what happened, so she couldn’t really find it in her to laugh, either at or with Yami, right now. “What do you want?”

“You heard that I wanted to talk in private. We’re in private, so…” he motioned, moving to sit in the other chair across from her. A red handprint was already forming on his cheek.

“I…is Yugi…”

“Yugi isn’t, currently, speaking to me. Apparently he is also quite…upset…with what I did.” Yami is silent a moment before saying, “As much as he’d like me to apologize and say that you can go up against the…insect…I won’t back down on that.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” Jounouchi pointed out, “This isn’t like that other time.”

“No, it’s not,” Yami acknowledged, “but there is something you’ve been hiding. About why you need the money.”

“I ha--.”

“You didn’t tell us that you were disqualified because someone pushed you to the limits. And despite what happened in our…early association…I would not have gone after them.”

“Which is why you’re going after Haga instead?”

Yami let out a breath, considering. “I would’ve gone after Haga first anyway. Technically, he’s one of the weaker opponents here, despite his win, and he’s also the most self-confident, egotistical _child_ I’ve seen.” He looked away and shrugged. “I am working on changing, but…I would like to put him in his place. Not using the Shadow Games.”

“Why?”

“….to know that I don’t need to use them.” He glanced at her. “After what happened with Shadii, I realized how dangerous this was. Shadii’s family has two Items, while Bakura and Pegasus have one. The only connection is Egypt. Yet, something tells me that Shadii is manipulating things.”

“How so?”

“The power of the Shadows and the Items tend to be…hard…on a soul. It puts pressure on them, until they either break to turn into…something else. Whatever happened to me, I turned into something else and didn’t break. The same could be said for the spirit of the thief in the Ring. Yet with Shadii, and with Pegasus…they haven’t reached the point of breaking, and yet they control the Shadow Games and use them in a way that’s far too self-serving. Even when I was only appearing to deal with those going after Yugi in particular, I was dealing with those who, in a way, were also a problem for others.”

Jounouchi was silent, thinking of all those that Yami had driven insane or made ‘disappear’ in some way, shape or form. Sadly, it was true that most of them were not just picking on Yugi, and that most of the time, he got angry or took over from Yugi when a friend or family member was going to get hurt.

“How was Shadii using it for personal gain? I mean, besides being a bastard and trying to get the Puzzle from you?”

“His use of the Scales as a way to judge Kurakane and others, coupled with what he talked to Yugi about, involving mummies, makes me believe he sees himself as a Tomb Keeper or a servant of Anubis.” Yami shrugged again, “Servants of Anubis worked to _prepare_ the Dead, the judgment was left to Anubis himself, and himself alone. To take on that role, simply because you have the Scales, is an abuse of their power.”

“Do you know for sure that it wasn’t their power to do that?”

Yami looked down, as if uncertain, before saying, “We believe that the realm of the gods remained their realm. Human affairs were ours. That they are similar is one thing – that we could be blessed with a way of knowing if a person was lying, or their true nature, seems more a use for the Scale, then to consign a man’s soul to be eaten by a demon when he is still alive and able to repent.”

Jounouchi shuddered at the prospect.

“Add to that, what he used the Ankh for…” Yami shook his head. “I need to know that I can do this without losing my temper, and without creating a Shadow Game. Yugi has enough control of the Shadows that he can stop me from creating one, but that doesn’t stop Pegasus or anyone else.”

Jounouchi was quiet a moment before saying, “I…I’m still not sorry for slapping you.”

“I deserved it,” Yami said with a grin, “I shouldn’t have accepted on behalf of your honor, when it’s obvious you could defeat him easily, in every way.”

There was a knock before Anzu came in, Bakura and Honda nearby and looking embarrassed while Anzu just looked…well, upset and angry.

 _Great, what did Mai say to her?_ Jounouchi thought as the woman in question walked in with a few other females, most of them with their own boyfriends or something.

“Well, looks like we just have some kids who need to get some rest! You two done?”

Jounouchi nodded, standing and smiling. “Um…thanks. I’ll keep the rival thing in mind for tomorrow.”

“You’d better. I’m not about to be underestimated,” Mai told her with a wink before sending a far more flirty one to Yami, “You take care, ok? I expect a good boy to take care of his girls.”

“ _Stop calling him a boy!_ ” Anzu growled, looking pissed as Jounouchi put on her jacket and got her bag.

“Oh…first-hand knowledge that he’s a man, hmm?”

“ _I…I would…_ ” Jounouchi considered if she should laugh (and face Anzu’s wraith later) or leave (and still have to deal with Anzu).

“Second-hand then? I never knew you were the type to kiss and tell, Bakura!”

Ok, it was worth staying to see Bakura and Yami turn _bright red_ and Anzu sputter about how ‘neither of them would ever’ while Mai said, “It’s always the quiet ones…I wonder how often the little Peach here thought about you two with her…”

“ _DON’T CALL ME THAT, YOU…YOU…_ ”

“Anzu, give it up. I’m tired and it’s late,” Jounouchi said, cutting the fun short as Honda snickered in the background. “Are we staying here or not?”

“I am _not_ staying with that…that…”

“Then I’ll see you in the morning,” Jounouchi said, “because I don’t want to deal with anyone right now.” Anzu looked ready to protest, but Yami interrupted her. “Alright, we’ll see you in the morning. Stay safe.”

“You too,” she told him, the group heading out as Mai smirked and went to go and, as promise, get the hot coco.

\--

Yugi was in control for a bit after they got up, mostly because Yami had realized that he wasn’t going to really explain what happened to Anzu, Bakura, or Honda that well. Of the group, perhaps Bakura understood the fact that the ‘other’ side from the Item was the ‘dominant’ soul, often overshadowing the other soul to a degree that might be considered scary for some. Anzu and Jounouchi, meantime, were the only ones who seemed to really understand the difference between Yami and Yugi, while Honda didn’t know about Yami and didn’t seem to even notice the changes.

Of course, Anzu was also very worried about Millennium Items, now that she’d been under the control of one, as well as had to work against one during the Monster World RPG. And while Yugi had wanted to tell her about what happened with Haga and Jounouchi, he also hesitated because of it as well. Despite being friends for almost two years now, Jounouchi was still a very private person. While Honda had known her for a good part of her time at Rintama, he also didn’t know a lot about her home life, even now. And while Anzu and Jounouchi were now on a first-name basis, they both were from two very different worlds, and that was something that did put a strain on their friendship sometimes.

Jounouchi joined them in the morning for the buffet-style breakfast, looking rested and better from before. She seemed wary of a few of the guards, but none of them approached her so she didn’t seem to pay them any mind, though Haga looked even more upset and was now glaring at them and muttering to himself.

They docked shortly after 8am, allowing for most of the Duelists and the few who wanted to stay to get off while the rest were taken back to the mainland. The information they’d gotten about the island wasn’t a lot – like many of the islands off the coast of Japan, it was small, about 5 kilometers wide. It was also not marked on most maps, though that still didn’t surprise Yugi or Yami. The way Pegasus seemed to set up the game, knowledge of where the island was could result in someone attempting to leave, or returning to get a loved one. After all, a few others had been coerced into playing this game, and while Yami didn’t get the “world’s most deadly game” tag-line, apparently Yugi and Jounouchi did.

“It’s always lovely when some rich bastard with no time on his hands says something that’s normally tagged for ‘oh, you have two days to stay away from me before I horribly murder you and stuff you in my mansion’,” Jounouchi muttered as Yugi nodded, the group directed from the dock to a sort of staging area near a castle. Anzu seemed to think it was a bit too much for the island, and Bakura also appeared confused by the huge European Medieval castle near some of the forest and the ocean.

 The group gathered before the doors to the castle as Pegasus walked out, holding up a microphone to say, “Welcome, Duelists! Allow me to explain the rules of this _very special_ tournament! The Duels will take place with official Duel Monsters cards only, of course, so I hope you all brought your most powerful decks! If you’re not confident, of course, you can always trade with one another. Now, each of you should have received a Duel Glove and two Star Chips, correct? Please put on the gloves, for those who have them, and direct your attention to the 10 crevices where you place your Star Chips. Insert them there now.” He chuckled and waited as they did so. At least two others besides Jounouchi didn’t have Duel Gloves, and held onto the Star Chips on their own. “These Stars are essentially your life as a Duelist in this tournament! Whenever you Duel in this tournament, you must stake one or more Star Chips on the outcome. A few of you have come in with a disadvantage, but I wouldn’t think you can take them all on so easily! The amount of chips wagered does not have to be the same per game, but should equal how many you are willing to bet, and how confident you are!” A few of the Duelists looked considerate at that mention, and Yugi considered what Haga had mentioned, about new rules on the island because of _how_ the game was being played. If it was similar to what Kaiba had set up, Yugi could see the reason for that.

Pegasus went on to explain that Duels would take place all over the kingdom, in Duel Boxes, and the first Duelists to win ten Star Chips will enter the Castle and have a chance at the prize.

“The Duels will begin an hour from now, and the tournament has a time-limit of 48 hours. Once time runs out, anyone with less than ten Star Chips will be eliminated and deported from the island immediately!”

With that and the announcement for the Duelists to head out and get used to the island, Pegasus disappeared back into the castle. Yugi felt Yami seething underneath his conscious. While they two could communicate, Yugi had found Yami’s over-protectiveness and anger were not going to let him listen to the announcements or rules that well. At least, with Yugi in charge, there were less glares towards Haga…

The groups or single Duelists spread out, traveling around the island as Haga himself headed straight into the forest with that same self-satisfied smirk on his face. Yugi allowed Yami to slowly take over, Yami frowning at the way the island was as Jounouchi and the others noticed a few areas of cleared spaces with varying numbers on them. Jounouchi frowned as Honda commented on the locations of the ones they saw, and many of the Duelists seemed to look around as well, trying to figure out what the Duel box placement was about and what the ‘new rules’ might be. Apparently the talk that Pegasus gave to Haga that was ‘top secret’ was now all over the island.

A loud speaker that rang over the island signaled the start, just as the group entered the forest and found Haga, chuckling near a Duel Box, similar to the one that Kaiba had used, but much bigger.

“You came. I didn’t think you’d be so stupid! Taking lessons from your little puppy-girlfriend?”

“I said I was taking you down first…and I am!”

The two headed into the Duel box, a few others, Mai included, moving to watch the first Duel. Considering it was between the two who showed so much animosity, and by one who said he knew about the ‘new rules’, a few wanted to watch and get a better idea so they weren’t easily defeated.

A screen appeared above, showing the two’s life points, number of Star Chips wagered, and the cards on the field. It also, oddly enough, showed some of the field…a forest with some open or devastated areas.

“Did you lose already?” Haga chuckled as he started to only take out one Star Chip.

“No, you offer up both of yours,” Yami demanded, smirking at Haga’s sputtering before he pointed out, “this is the first game…why not make it winner-take-all? I offer up one Chip, meaning I’ll be disqualified if I lose. You should offer up two, then. Or do you _not_ want the reputation of having faced the one who took down Kaiba?”

Haga’s nervousness suddenly left him, a gleeful look on his face as he said, “Alright then. I’ll take you down in one go, Yugi Muto!”


	3. Land and Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yami and Haga are the first Duel in the Kingdom, and shortly afterwards, Jounouchi begins to wonder about her friends and how they view her own Dueling abilities when they push Yami into dueling Mako, a Sea Duelist.

The crowd was gathering, mostly talking about the first Duel being between Yugi and Haga, but also wondering about the setup and the rules. Firstly, while it was a bigger box then the ones found at Kaibaland, it was obviously a bit of a rip-off of the box design, only larger. The two were standing next to the doors they’d entered from, and the field was a holographic one with the forest, open field, blighted wasteland, and like around it. The two stood at a raised part of the table, which was long and held a holographic board, allowing the cards to be represented on the main area. There was an automatic shuffler, allowing for them to pull a card out but not cheat, and a Life Point counter to one side.

With a chuckle, Haga said, “I play Killer Needle in Attack mode!” and gleefully smiled as it appeared out of the forest, buzzing and flying in a circle before waiting for a command. (1200/1000)

“I play Mammoth Graveyard in attack mode!” Out of the more desolated area on the map, which covered small areas of the board, huge bones rose out of the ground and a haunting roar came out of it, the thing hitting the ground in a few areas before standing still, also waiting orders. (1200/800)

The two attacked on command, the huge skeletal mammoth hitting the bee-like monster as it pulled back and also attacked. The mammoth was the first to disappear, collapsing into bones as Haga chuckled and finally let out the ‘new rule’ about the fields. “The board is 80% forest and 20% wasteland! My Needle had a…what?!” he gasped as the bug on his side faltered and finally fell to the forest, dead.

Yugi: 2000

Haga: 2000

“You should pay more attention,” Yugi said with a smirk. “I figured out that rule the moment I sat down at the table!”

The crowd outside muttered, a few taking out some maps of the island they’d been given and talking to either their friends or muttering to themselves.

“That’s going to change a lot people’s strategies, and makes the game a bit harder,” Mai told them, walking up as Anzu cast her a glare while Honda blushed at her appearance and Jounouchi nodded.

“Why are you agreeing with her?”

“A lot of the monsters get a boost from certain types of landscapes,” she pointed out, “not all, but a lot of them. The island that Pegasus picked is a micro-climate, and has all types of the ‘fields’. So you have to hang around the area you’re strongest.”

“And look at how the map is,” Mai pointed to the screen on top. “It gives the landscape for about 40 meters in each direction. I’m guessing, to each of those corners, is a new Duel Box. It allows for them to be spaced pretty far apart, and for a Duelist to claim one area that suits them the most. While we’re in the forest, we’re also near the edge, where the Wasteland is.”

“Haga should’ve gone further into the forest,” Bakura muttered, getting Honda to nod as Haga, after a moment, called for the came to continue before playing his next card. “I play the Herculese Beetle, Level 5!” a gigantic bug appeared, throwing its head up as it did (1500/1000). Haga added, “The field, if it’s home, adds a 30% boost!” The beetle stretched out and seemed to grow, before shifting as if to become more comfortable to its area. (1500 -> 1950)

Yugi looked at his cards, frowning before saying, “I play the Feral Imp in Attack mode!” from the area appeared a green creature, growling and hissing at the beetle and Haga. (1300/1400) “Nex, I play Horn of the Unicorn! It raises the monster’s attack and defense by 700 points!” The Imp let out a feral cry and hiss as the small horn on its head grew, replaced by the unicorn horn. (1300/1400 -> 2000/2100)

“Battle!” the two yelled, the Beetle attacking as the Imp as everyone blinked in confusion, watching the imp get sliced apart by the Beetle’s scissor boomerangs.

Yugi: 1350

Haga: 2000

Everyone was silent as Haga cackled and said that cards also got incentive boost for being in their home turf. Yugi played his next card in defense mode, and despite adding another insect, along with the insect cannon that got it’s attack power up towards ridiculous one-kill levels, Haga only used one at a time. He instead built up an army, while Yugi played three cards in defense mode and a face-down card. Haga, also having a face-down card, meant both were at a stalemate.

Of course, when Yugi put out the Dark Magician, a card that had been a signature of his during the battle with Kaiba, Haga couldn’t help but attack.

But he’d also thought that Yugi’s face-down card was a Spell card, and not a trap card.

Mirror Force sent the attack back, destroying Haga’s army of insects and dropping Haga’s life points down with their defeat.

Yugi: 1350

Haga: 450

“Well, you must’ve won the tournament by dumb luck, Haga,” Yugi said with a smirk as the bugs disappeared, “You’re the weakest thing on this island.”

“Y-you…You’ll regret this, you big-haired freak! Now you really made me mad!”

“Please, talk is cheap. Beat me at this game and show me how mad you are, you insect.”

Haga glanced at his cards, smirking a bit before playing Lava Moth in defense mode. (500/400) Yugi, glancing at the one card left in the spell and trap card area, played Monster Recovery instead, putting the three defensive monsters back and having his hand and deck reshuffled before drawing a new one. With a bit of a smile, Yugi played the weakest card (but sometimes the most useful) in his deck, Kuriboh (300/1200).

With it’s placement on the board, and a simple ‘attack’ command, it blew up, deactivating Haga’s trap.

Yugi: 1050

Haga: 450

Haga started laughing after Yugi’s end turn, leaving the Beaver Warrior in defense mode (1200/1500), before playing his perfect combo, equipping the larva with the Cocoon of Evolution. “In five turns, it will open to reveal the Ultimate Perfect Great Moth! And what’s more, the forest increases its defense from 2000 to 2600! None of your monsters will touch it!”

Yugi frowned, glancing at his cards before playing Gaia the Fierce Knight in attack mode (2300/2100), though he didn’t go after the cocoon. If he was right about how the rules went, then he might be able to try something. The problem was…he didn’t have the right card yet.

Haga heckled him through their turns – he didn’t play any monsters, due to Yugi’s two on the field that could easily take down them and his life-points before the moth’s arrival.

Outside, Anzu and the others were getting restless, though Jounouchi and Mai seemed to have the same outlook and didn’t speak up until Mai got a bit too annoyed with Anzu’s constant attempts to cheer Yugi into doing something. “You talk too much. The boxes are pretty-much soundproof, moron. If they weren’t someone might be able to go around and yell out what the other person had put down. He can’t hear you. Once he went into the match, he only had himself. Besides, a real duelist wouldn’t even pay attention to you shouting all the time.”

“You’re wrong!” Anzu argued back, looking annoyed, “Yugi will hear us…he’ll hear our feelings!”

Mai rolled her eyes, glancing at Jounouchi to see that she seemed…preoccupied, as if considering something. It got the older woman to frown as Jounouchi saw Yugi glance over at her, and give her a ‘thumbs up’.

Oh…has he got a way out of this situation?

“I play Curse of Dragon,” the yellow dragon roared to life and began to spew fire towards the cocoon, getting Haga to laugh as Yugi smirked. “Oh, I also did a combo attack…I wasn’t going after the cocoon.” The dragon stopped, flapping next to Gaia and letting out a huge amount of steam from its mouth (1200/1500) “I was going for the forest around it. Its wasteland now…and the cocoon lost its power-up.”

Gaia went for the cocoon, tearing it apart, and letting lose the monstrous moth within. It wasn’t evolved all the way, but it was still formidable, the fourth stage of the Great Moth that Haga had been waiting for. (2600/2500)

Of course, that got Haga to start crowing and laughing and pointing, asking if Yugi was cowering in fear of the moth and its powers.

“I was actually picturing how best to squish this new annoyance,” Yugi said calmly, even as the moth took to the air.

\--

The Duel came down to the wire – Yugi was down to 100 Life Points, and Haga at 450, while the remaining crowd either watched or muttered to themselves. Because of the new rules, it seemed that a lot of new strategy was in-play, and a great deal of that hinged on location and ability to use magic, traps, and monsters in combos or to effect the field, as well as the monster cards.

The Magic Mist-Summoned Skull combo was not one that could be used conventionally, and was also not something often used even in the duel boxes at Kaibaland. With multiple Duelists muttering about the unfair new rules, and others wondering about either trades or how they would defeat someone, while a few others raced off to be the next to Duel, Yami walked over and casually took Haga’s two Star Chips.

“I knew I’d squash you,” he said, “Now, get off this island before I rip off your arms and legs too!”

Haga slowly walked out, looking dejected and almost ashamed, before a shadow fell over him.

“Hey,” Jounouchi said with a wicked in her eye as she cracked her knuckles in preparation, “Wanna see what this girl can do?”

Haga quickly looked around for escape, but most of the others were already gone or chose to ignore his plight. “Eh... you…you wouldn’t…”

“Yeah, actually,” she said as she picked him up by his shirt, “I would. Just for you, at least right now. So…what was that about my looks?”

“I…I didn’t mean it, I swear! Please, what would…um…what would your mother say?”

“Oh, she disapproves of me. But I don’t let that bother me so much. My dad…well, he’d tell me to kick you into next Sunday. And I like my dad, so I’d listen to him instead.” She smirked as Haga turned white. “So…Let’s try to see if you got manners in you.”

“I’msorryI’msorryI’llneverdoitagainIpromiseI’lltreatwomenbetterjustpleasedon’t hit meeeeeee….”

Honda winced at the whining as Bakura and Anzu watched with…a bit of an annoyed look on their faces. “Great, now she has to—“

“OW!!” came Haga’s yell as Jounouchi slapped him hard, then again.

“Quit yer whining, you stupid asshole. You talk it up until someone hits ya.”

“I…I’m sorry, but…”

Another, harder slap. “But nothing! You wanna talk like I’m lower on the food chain then some creepy insect-asshole, you’re gonna pay the price!”

“I’m beginning to worry about her,” Anzu muttered as Jounouchi continued to slap Haga, who didn’t seem to get a clue until he finally yelled, “Screw you, you know I was right, and you’re not my…hey, what the…stop it!”

“Then stop acting like a spoiled brat! You can’t take a beating like a grown-up, you get spanked like a child!”

Mai calmly handed over a lithe, long stick that Jounouchi had gotten from somewhere, which Jounouchi accepted before letting out a quick succession of hard smacks. Anzu and Bakura blinked and glared at the older woman, who shrugged as the now-caning started. “What? She’s right, he deserves it.”

“Please don’t encourage her, we only just started getting her to not beat people up.”

“AH! No, stop, I give up! I’m sorry! Ow!”

With one last, hard slap, which broke the switch, Jounouchi pushed Haga off and stood over him as he now looked up at her with newfound horror. “So…if you’re not using that glove, I’ll be taking it. And if I see you again, trust me, I won’t be so nice!”

Haga quickly pulled off the glove, giving it to her before racing off as Mai chuckled and left without another word, Anzu shaking her head as Jounouchi waved the glove around, as if to air it out, before putting it on and putting in the one Star Chip she had. The group walked out to find Yami looking at the sign, as if debating which way to go next.

The Duelists had already scattered, either going to find a Duel Box in an area that would best suit them, or wandering if their Decks were technically balanced or didn’t want to remain stationary for too long. While the group saw the advantage, Yami seemed to prefer walking and, if anything, finding Duelists as quickly as he could so they could start winning Star Chips.

The smell of cooking fish, and Honda’s endless stomach, is what brings them to the ocean and a small campfire. Honda was quick to want to go and get some fish, though Anzu and Bakura pointed out that this was obviously where another Duelist was.

“I guess we’ll be lucky and get more Star Chips,” Honda pointed out as he moved to sit down, grinning at the others, “I mean, with Yugi here, he’ll get all the stuff we need in no time!”

Jounouchi, who had been nearest to him and glaring at his determination, smacked her friend upside the head. “I am in this competition too, ya know. And you’re not going to eat that. It’s obviously someone’s lunch.”

“Oh, come on,” Honda started just as they heard a, “Hey, that’s my—“

The group looked over and frowned before a hand came up and a muscular guy with a Duelist glove came up, a spear in his hand with a fish skewered on it.

“I said…hey, that’s my fish!”

The guy was half-naked, save for a pair of swim-trunks and some goggles, a small octopus on his head and a deep glare in his eyes. The group paused and Jounouchi finally said, “Yeah, I guessed that. I was telling my friend,” she hit Honda again, who appeared to be eyeing the octopus, “that he shouldn’t barge in on other people’s stuff.”

“Jounouchi!”

The man blinked and looked at them, pointing to the gloves. “You two are Duelists?”

Jounouchi and Yami nodded, the man grinning before Anzu’s giggle made him growl out “WHAT?”

“Just hold still,” Jounouchi said, rolling her eyes at her friends before grabbing the small octopus. “Mind if we sit and eat?”

He considered before saying, “Well…you realize that if I let you eat…one of you two have to Duel me.” He pointed to a nearby Duel Box. “We even have one set up in my area.”

Before Jounouchi could even say anything, Anzu said, “Great! Yugi and you can duel right after this, then!”

The octopus was wrapped around Jounouchi’s hand, a bit sticky and not at all pleasant, and she decided now was a great time to start cooking.

“I’m Mako, by the way. The Sea Duelist, if you haven’t guessed,” the guy said, smiling apologetically at Jounouchi but beaming as he saw her set things up. Apparently, the introduction was a sort of apology, or something that he was working up to.

“I heard of you,” Yami said, apparently deciding to take attention off of Jounouchi as he made casual conversation, “You won third in the finals, but lost to Ryuzaki.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t my day. But I’m getting the hang of things here.” He proudly showed off his own Duel glove, which had four Star Chips. “I won my first game pretty easily. And I heard you took down Haga really quickly too.”

“The new rules are…a bit confusing,” Bakura mentioned as Jounouchi sat back to watch over the frying fish. She considered and all three Duelists nodded.

“It’s more on the ‘magic and might’ side, and that means you have to think outside the box,” Jounouchi said, “and it means that, even with a balanced Deck, you could get to be at a disadvantage. It depends on if the other opponent can influence the world around them.”

“On top of that, a lot of the Duelists here will probably be relying on one or two tricks, not various. So they can be at a disadvantage. Not to mention,” Yami pointed out, “You’re trapped if you have a themed Deck.”

Mako chuckled at the point. “Yeah, I noticed. I don’t mind…I grew up on the sea, and a lot of what got me into this was the prize money. I wanted to get a boat so I could continue the family tradition, or maybe sail around the world. Either way, it would be nice.” He seemed to consider. “I heard a few people were here for reasons besides the Prize Money, though. They’re pretty desperate.”

Silence fell over the group before both Mako and Jounouchi checked on the fish and, proclaiming a few done, as well as the octopus, the group settled down to eat.

The food gone and their early-lunch over, Yami and Mako headed over to the Duel Box to start their own Duel, the group watching from outside and Jounouchi frowning at the layout. Mako had picked a good area if he was using mostly sea-monsters- about 20% of the place was actual dry land, with the rest being ocean. With the first monster disappearing beneath the water when played on the board, it became evident what Yami was up against.

\--

The battle itself was very one-sided for quite a while, but ultimately it came down to knowing enough about the way the game could be played. Yami had seen a possible way out when he played the ‘Full Moon’ card and see what it’d done to the tide and, thus, to the amount of actual land he had instead of ocean area.

Mako had been surprised when the Moon was destroyed and the tide fell back, revealing his monsters and effectively ending the close game. Mako handed over the two stars with no fuss, and wished the group ‘good luck’ as they headed along the coast towards the plains and slightly more mountainous areas. Jounouchi took in all the sights, happy for the experience but melancholy as well.

Shizuka…

She hadn’t told them why she was here, what the money would be used for. She saw no reason to tell her friends, mostly because she didn’t want them worrying about her. It wasn’t like what had happened with Yugi’s grandfather, or whatever else might occur while they were here. Shizuka had had the problems for a long time, and it had been one of the many reasons Mom ended up with custody of her all those years ago. Dad couldn’t afford the bills or the treatment, but Mom could and, from what little Jounouchi had been able to find out, so could her new husband.

But for all they could pay for most of the treatment, they couldn’t pay for the operation that would possibly restore Shizuka’s sight. The bills had simply added up too fast, like they had when Jounouchi was younger, and her sister was in danger of losing her sight and her chances at a good life. Of course, Mom blamed this all on Dad and everything besides simple, horrible chance - Jounouchi recalls that Shizuka had come early and had been in the hospital for a long while before coming home, then needed to go back every year to treat her eyes. But, after all that...this year, something happened to make the whole thing pointless.

I have to win this...I have to be a good big sister, she thought as she looked out across the waves. She’d managed to take her sister to the beach one day, and things had been great for those few hours. For those few hours, when the divorce was getting bad and she’d not been able to get them to the orphanage, right before those two boys had disappeared...things had been good. Jounouchi had managed to be a good sister to Shizuka, to make her laugh and not think about all the horrible things being said in the house.

“Jounouchi,” Honda’s voice pulled her back as she walked over to her friends and looked down the long valley of various Duelists who were engaging in a Duel, a trade, or something similar. “Hey, isn’t this a good area for your deck?”

“It should be,” she said, looking down the line and then shrugging, “I mean, I made my deck with mostly warriors and the like, so the field area here would be the best place for it.”

Yami nodded. “You should find someone in your home-turf to battle. I already had two duels...the next two should be yours.”

She smiled at him, grateful for the encouragement. Despite what had happened earlier, Yami seemed to understand that she needed someone on her side, and that she was still a bit too prideful, as well as embarrassed, to tell the others about how she’d lost in the games for the Japanese championship. If anything, he was all ready to encourage her on her battles, or at least tell Anzu, Bakura and Honda to not bother her while she was Dueling.

“I dunno, Jounouchi,” Bakura said as he looked around.

“Yeah, these guys are kinda strong-looking,” Anzu added, “let’s find someone who seems a bit weaker.”

I hate my friends.

“I’m sure Jounouchi could take on any of them,” Yami said, “we shouldn’t discourage her.”

“It’s not discouragement if it’s a fact!” Anzu argued, and Jounouchi began to strongly debate her friendship with the girl. When did she become such a snob? “I mean, these are a lot of the best Duelists in Japan, if not the world, and you are always put into a spot with them! You really think Katsuye can--.”  
“I do,” Yami told her, looking serious as Anzu blinked at the tone, “I know that Katsuye can hold her own and prove herself in this battle. I’m not about to hold her back.”

Of course, that was the moment when a bout of laughter got them to look over at a young man arguing with Mai Kujaku, apparently upset that he’d lost to the older woman. The group headed over, despite Anzu’s continued glare, and Mai smirked at them as they arrived. “You’ve raked in the chips, Yugi-kun.” A frown as she glanced at Jounouchi’s own lack of Star Chips. “He been robbing the spotlight?”

“I’m walking around with a famous guy, of course everyone wants to duel him,” Jounouchi pointed out, sticking her hands into her jacket pockets. She was very aware of how different the two were dressed - Jounouchi in her more boyish clothing, looking hardly like a girl, and Mai in a short skirt, corset, and a jacket that only emphasized her bosom. The Duel Glove had about five Star Chips, similar to Yugi’s own, and most of the other Duelists were avoiding looking at Mai or the group.

“Well...how about we have a good, old-fashioned girl-fight? See if we can’t drum up some competition for you.” Jounouchi blinked at it as Mai smiled at her. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you either. I’m a bit tired of all these boys underestimating me because I happen to be pretty to look at. I need a good challenge.”

Jounouchi smiled at that and finally nodded. “Alright then...I’ll bring it.”


	4. Kujaku Mai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jounouchi gets her chance to shine as she faced Kujaku Mai and, later Ryuzaki. Anzu sorta has to come to terms with the fact that she might be wrong about Jounouchi's abilities, and the reason for Jounouchi's disqualification earlier on.

The playing field was a mix - 40% mountain (represented by a 3D area that was higher than the rest), 40% grassland, and 20% wasteland. Most of the wasteland was evenly distributed, while the grassland was mostly on Jounouchi’s side.

Mai offered up one Star Chip while Jounouchi offered up the same, feeling a bit of the pressure of it. This was her only chance to really defeat someone, and she guessed that Mai was a tough opponent who wanted to have a good challenge.

Of course, Mai pulled her ‘card trick’ early on, the two staring down as she laid out her cards and played Harpy Lady without even looking at it. Jounouchi frowned but said nothing about what she smelled...Mai had managed to scent her cards, and it took skill to pick out the various ones. Kinda like how it took skill to do a lot of things, but this particular trick was meant to throw off someone who either couldn’t smell the cards, or just thought it was her perfume.

“You’re really gonna pull that stupid trick on me?”

Mai blinked, then smirked at her. “Well...at least I don’t have to say I’m psychic then. You don’t mind, though? I enjoy the show.”

“Want me to look impressed?”

“No.” She motioned to where a small crowd, besides her friends, had been drawn to the idea of the ‘two girls’ Dueling, “I think just you being yourself and me being myself will suffice. If anything, I’m going to get those Star Chips way earlier than anyone else. You should ditch your friends and work with me.”

“Thanks, but I kinda like the idea of proving them wrong. Besides...life’s never dull around them.”

Mai smiled and motioned as Jounouchi pulled out her first card. “I play Tiger Axe!” The animated beast-warrior roared at the Harpy Lady, but remained where he was.

“Not going to attack?”

“I landed on enough dumbasses to know that you have to be careful about attacking something from below,” Jounouchi said with a small smile, “besides, should you wow me with what you can pull out of the line-up?”

Mai laughed a bit at that and shook her head. “You’re right. Ok then,” she drew and put it down before taking another care and saying, “I play Electro-whip and equip it to my Harpy Lady.” The Harpy Lady pulled out a whip, cracking it as it sparked with electricity. (1690->1990) “Let’s go then. Attack her Tiger Axe!” The tiger roared and made an effort to dodge, but the aerial assault was too much and it fell quickly.

Mai: 2000

Jounouchi: 1700

\--

Anzu shifted as she watched Katsuye going up against that Mai lady. She hated being helpless, and watching Katsuye slowly work through her cards as the Harpy Lady became more powerful on each turn, eating away at her life-points, was hard to watch. She wished that Yugi had spoken up, or that Yami had demanded that he duel against Mai instead of allowing this to happen. Sure, Katsuye could hold her own in a physical fight, but recent events had also prove that she was horrible at other things. She’d nearly died during Death-T multiple times by simply being herself, and her recklessness had gotten her trapped in the Monster World with record speed.

Katsuye’s life-points were down in the 400s, while Mai’s hadn’t been touched, as Katsuye drew a final card, facing three Harpy Ladies with an attack of 2490, and smirked as she did.

“Hey, Mai...wanna hear a riddle?”

Mai blinked and, after a chuckle, said, “Sure...let’s hear your last little joke.”

“What can you show but no one can see?” Anzu found herself freeze at the odd riddle, and at Yami’s chuckle as Jounouchi said after a bit, “While you think on it, I’ll play Time Wizard.”

“Time Wizard?”

“If played with Baby Dragon, the Time Wizard can do Time Magic and age the dragon to an adult. Ready? Go!”

The small sentient clock raised it’s wand, the whole of the table twisting briefly before an older dragon glared back at them, snorting out a small gust of steam. (2400)

“You think you can...wh-what happened to my Harpies?” On the other side of the board, the three Harpie Ladies were now aged and gray, flying low to the ground and looking haggard. (2490->1300).

“It affected the whole board...you don’t just bring one up, you brought them all! Now, Thousand Dragon, let’s end this Duel!”

The Dragon pulled in a deep breath and bellowed out, blasting away all the Harpies in one fell swoop.

Jounouchi: 430

Mai: 0

Mai slumped at the loss and Anzu smiled, happy to see the woman get taken down a peg as Katsuye collected the star chips and patted Mai on the shoulder, the woman finally letting out a small laugh and standing to shake Katsuye’s hand. “I never expected that...you’d better have more up your sleeve then some party-trick.”

“That, coming from you, is kinda hilarious.”

\--

Despite having won against Mai and now having two Star Chips, finding another Duelist to go up against was pretty hard. Yami remained firmly at his five chips, and though Katsuye went to go and bother (“I’m challenging, Anzu, how else will someone want to Duel?”), no one took up offers to Duel her either, a fact that seemed to just irritate both Katsuye and Yami more and more as the day wore on. Anzu sighed as they took a seat in the plains area that suited Katsuye and held the most Duelists. The few that they’d approached had either backed down with a glance at Yami, or been put-off by Katsuye herself.

“You could ask them nicely,” Bakura pointed out, Katsuye letting out a groan as she sat down on a nearby log.

“I’m not threatening them, I’m not jumping them from behind, and I’m letting them pick the Duel box,” Katsuye told him, looking angry at the accusation. “This is as nice as I’m getting for these assholes.”

Yami let out a huff of annoyance as well, appearing upset by the lack of Duels for himself as well. “I would have put off my own Duel with Haga, if I’d known we’d have all these...problems,” he seems annoyed by how scared the other Duelists are, but then again, who could blame them? Yami was the best Duelist here, and it was obvious he’d do all he could to help Katsuye if he could be heard through the box.

Honda let out his own annoyed breath before saying, “After what happened with Mai, I’m guessing all the guys are really scared of Jounouchi. I mean, none of them could beat her.”

Anzu frowned at the reminder of that Mai lady. The woman was far too forward in her antics, and had gotten under Anzu’s skin really quickly. She claimed to be psychic, and had probably gone easy on Katsuye as a fellow girl-Duelist, or at least had realized she couldn’t use her boobs and winks to get Katsuye to go easy on her. Either way, it wasn’t like Katsuye matched up to her, or to some of the guys around here.

After a pause and some snacks, the group headed back in search of other possible Duelists, though a few had stopped when their friends or other Duelists were sent away, put in semi-impressive row-boat to head back to the mainland. Haga was onboard the first of these, as were about nine or so other Duelists, and after their departure, a lot of the group began to actually try to Duel.

Of course, no one approached them after that point either…not until they’d heard a cry of, “YOU! Yeah, you, Jounouchi!”

The group turned and blinked as they saw Dinosaur Ryuzaki standing nearby, Mai looking both apologetic and annoyed as he said, “I’m challenging you to a Duel!”

The group all blinked, Katsuye suddenly breaking into a smile before she said, “Alright, let’s do this.”

Yami glanced over at Mai as they walked over to the nearest Duel box, Anzu seething at the arrival of Mai and how bored she looked, but also the fact that the woman had _eight_ Star Chips. She seemed to pick up on Anzu’s upset and smirked a bit, making an overly exaggerated move to start thinking as Yami glanced at her and said, “I take you were luckier than we were.”

“Yes. I also got pissed that the kid,” she motioned to Ryuzaki, “wanted to try again when he’d lost so badly last time. I told him I’d only fight if he battled Jounouchi, and then he ran off to find her.” She shrugged. “Not like she can’t handle herself.”

Yami nodded as Anzu glared at Mai. What was this woman thinking, bringing the runner-up over here to duel Katsuye? It was bad enough, watching her friend’s fumbles as she went against Mai, but now Katsuye seemed pumped and ready.

“Don’t think I haven’t learned my lesson!” Ryuzaki said, “I ain’t goin’ easy on you just ‘cause you’re a girl!”

“Well, I wasn’t going to go easy on you just ‘cause you’re an idiot, so we’re even.”

Ryuzaki blinked and then smirked at her. “Alright then, get ready.”

\--

It’s weird, how close the Duel is and how much fun both Ryuzaki and Jounouchi seem to be having as they battle and yell at each other. Ryuzaki’s dinosaurs are a bit much against Jounouchi’s warriors, but generally they’re evenly matched. When she drags out her Flame Swordsman, he’s quick to slice through Ryuzaki’s dinos as well as most of his life-points, before he finally summons his final monster – the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

The minute he brought it out, Ryuzaki said, “Hey, since this is a trading-card game, I’ll offer up a trade! My Red Eyes against your Time Wizard…this is a super-rare card, you’re not going to get a better deal!”

Jounouchi blinked at that, nodding before drawing a card and smiling herself. “Yeah, I got an idea for that card. I summon Time Wizard and use his special ability!”

“oh…shit.”

The roulette on the Time Wizard’s wand spun rapidly slowly before finally stopping on the top portion, which allowed for Time Magic and which, with its effect, ended the game. Ryuzaki let out a groan and handed over his own card, shaking Jounouchi’s hand afterward and giving her a smile.

“That was a good game. What’s up with only having two Star Chips?”

“I guess they think I’m gonna make them play Yugi next or something,” she told him as they exited the Duel Box, fitting the two new chips into the glove, “or they don’t wanna fight ‘the girl’. It’s annoying.”

Ryuzaki nodded and glanced over at Mai before saying, “Don’t think I won’t come back! And I’m ready to win that card back from you, Jounouchi!” She smiled as he headed off, Yugi smiling and congratulating her as Mai watched. It was sweet, to see such a close-knit group, but she also noticed how that Mazaki girl seemed to hang back, as if uncertain about Mai’s presence as they congratulated Jounouchi and began to head away to try their luck. Mai considered going after another Duel, but many were heading off to areas to set up camps or to join together with the few who came prepared. Very few were still Dueling, and she soon let out a huff of annoyance before following after the group, finding Jounouchi holding up a pack as Honda attempted to get at it.

“You’ve been stealing food all day, you idiot!”

“But I’m hungry!”

Mazaki and that white-haired boy she’d not learned the name of trying to hold him back, while Yugi looked a bit different and was sighing, looking over and spotting her first before smiling and waving. He seemed completely different from before, and she waved back, walking up while eating a small nutrition bar.

“Miss Kujaku,” Yugi said, getting her to shake her head.

“Please, call me Mai. I already feel too old to be on this island,” she smirked as both Honda and the white-haired boy looked at the bar longingly, while Jounouchi smiled at her arrival. It appeared that her sending Ryuzaki over after her had heightened Jounouchi’s spirits, and at least he’d treated her like an actual duelist. He’d been peeved at Mai for the ‘trick’ and wanted to have an ‘actual duel’, so she’d sent him after Jounouchi. If anything, Ryuzaki now seemed more invested in beating them both, as Duelists rather than because they were girls.

“It’s too late for Duels,” Mai pointed out as Mazaki asked why she was here, “I figure we call a truce for the night and set up camp.”

“Sounds good,” Jounouchi said, “I didn’t get a chance to bring a tent, but it’s still warm enough to sleep outside.”

“Well, I brought a tent and some other things, plus some food for cooking.” She smiled at the two men who seemed to drool over the prospect of food, “Should we set things up?”

They found a good place near the cliffs, with a decent clearing for a fire pit and enough dried branches to start a good fire. It was also near enough to a fresh water source that they managed to get a stew going, as well as heated up some water for a small shower. Mazaki was looking less and less angry at Mai’s presence, especially after Jounouchi and Mai let her use the shower first while the white-haired boy, Bakura, started to cook.

They were done with cooking by the time the three girls were done with their quick showers, and everyone seemed grateful for the lull in Dueling and for the fact that the night didn’t have a sudden freeze. There was the sound of a few others nearby and also making food, but no one really came to visit the other camps.

The group made small conversation about what was going on, with Jounouchi and Yugi moving away to talk about what was happening while Mai saw Honda, after his second helping, stretch and go to find a place to rest. Bakura shifted but also moved away, checking on something in his bag and then moving to find his own place to rest. It left her and Mazaki alone, the younger woman looking a bit upset by it but also sheepish.

“You could cheer Jounouchi on, you know,” Mai finally said, getting Mazaki to glare at her. “I saw what was going on. You don’t believe she’s strong enough to win this on her own. I find that a bit insulting.”

“She lost a basic neighborhood challenge,” Mazaki said.

“Really? Even if her deck was worse than when she went up against me, I’d say she probably won. But…well, I don’t suppose you’ve noticed that a lot of the boys here aren’t exactly the chivalrous type, so what makes you think it’s any better in a neighborhood tournament? And Jounouchi strikes me as the type of girl who’ll end up getting disqualified due to violence, rather than losing.”

Mazaki was silent after a moment, apparently thinking for once instead of just going straight for the cheering or sad looks, when Mai heard something shifting nearby. She frowned, looking over to see someone hiding in the bushes, glancing at the food and the group. Mai looked over at Mazaki before saying, “Hey, do you want to set the tent up? I don’t really feel like sleeping outside right now.”

Anzu blinked but nodded, the two working to set up the tent as she kept an eye on the campfire. Soon, she saw the slight movement from the bushes, and the slow creep of a small figure towards an abandoned bowl and the food.

Jounouchi grabbed the kid up, holding him up as he started to kick out right as Honda and Bakura started, heading back while Yugi raced up, looking as confused as Mazaki right before Jounouchi said, sounding surprised and a little confused, “Mokuba?”


	5. Night and Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mokuba's on the island, Pegasus is using the Shadows for darker games, and the group is split up while trying to defeat the Player Killer Duelists. Meanwhile, Kaiba has awoken and makes his way to the island.

Mokuba Kaiba was still a bit small, but had started to grow since they last saw him. He had somehow managed to glare at Yugi the whole time he was eating, and to not answer any questions until he’d had a bowl, though his attempts for another was stopped by Jounouchi after she learned he’d been hiding in the trees and underbrush for most of the day.

“You don’t need to gorge yourself,” she told him, stirring the stew. “Talk first. If you’re still hungry, you can have some more, ok?”

Mokuba nodded, glancing at Yugi and finally muttering, “Why are you here?”

“Pegasus…did something to my grandpa,” Yugi said, not certain how much more he could say with Mai here, “I was ‘formally invited’ after that.”

“And you had to bring everyone?” Mokuba asked, the glare intensifying before Jounouchi said, “Mokuba, I’m here on my own, ok? The others were allowed to come and see how things went. There’s nothing sinister about it, promise.”

Mokuba seemed to relax at her words and finally told them what happened. Though Kaiba was well-liked for the new direction he’d taken, not firing too many and giving good references when he did (unless they had done something like the guys at KaibaLand, who were all but jailed for their attempts to murder people), his comatose state had put Mokuba in charge of a lot of things. Mokuba had done his best, trusting it to the staff and working to care for his brother, but the Big Five, who had been near-powerless and who were about as well-liked as Gozaburo by the end, had struck a deal with Industrial Illusions to crippled KaibaCorp’s main money-maker by giving Pegasus the patent on the Solid Illusions that only the Kaiba’s had. The fact that the first Kaibaland had been a hit, enough to get a promise for more and to revive their lost stocks after Kaiba had changed the focus of the company, didn’t seem to be enough for the Big Five.

Nothing short of ruining Seto was going to be enough for them. However, the problem now was that the patent was in Seto’s name, and they needed the necessary paperwork to forge that gave it to them. Paperwork that was in a chest only Mokuba had the key to.

A key that Mokuba had, in a fit of panic, swallowed.

Jounouchi gave him another bowl full of stew at his stomach’s protests, and Yugi looked down at the fire as Mai said, “Ok, that’s just…wow, does this happen to you guys a lot?”

“Nope,” Jounouchi said, “so far it only happened the once.”

Mai shook her head and finally stood up. “I’m going to go and check on something. I think the kid should take the tent, though,” she pointed to the small tent and smiled, “He looks like he shouldn’t be out in the open too long.”

Mokuba swallowed and quickly went back to eating, Honda grumbling about interrupting his sleep while Bakura, after another check on something in his bag and a frown, also headed to bed. Anzu said she’d sleep outside, letting Jounouchi take the tent, and went to find a good spot, leaving the three alone.

“Jounouchi…why are you on this island?” Mokuba finally asked, getting Jounouchi to frown at him as Yugi looked up at her. He paused for a moment before taking off the Puzzle and putting it beside him, though he didn’t touch it.

“He can’t really hear anything, not unless I want him to. I mean, if I’m in trouble, he can…” Yugi shifted and glanced up at her again. “Jounouchi, tell me what’s wrong.”

On a normal day, she might be able to shrug off Yugi’s huge, sad eyes that demanded he know her woes so they could possibly work on fixing it. Getting them from Yugi and Mokuba was just not fair.

“I…I have a sister…Shizuka.” Jounouchi wondered if Mokuba remembered her…after being reminded of her old paper route and the kid who always seemed in need of help, she realized who he was. “She’s a few years younger than I am, but…well, she was born with a lot of problems. It was hard, for the first few years of her life, and she spent a lot of time inside or in the hospital. Everything but her eyes really recovered.”

Yugi blinked at that, and Mokuba seemed to have some idea of who Jounouchi was talking about.

“A few days before the video came to your house, she sent a video…she…” Jounouchi swallowed, attempting to hold back her tears. “The doctors said that she’d be going blind, unless she got this treatment. It…it’s pretty damn expensive, for something that only has a 50/50 chance. The prize money could probably cover it, though.”

“Katsuye…” Yugi said, getting her to look up at him. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

She let out a harsh laugh. “You really think I’d tell Anzu about it? Or anyone else? Honda knows some about me, but he doesn’t know about Shizuka. And you…I mean, you have enough problems, without me having to tell you about mine. This…I always make my sister happy. I was gonna fix this on my own.”

Mokuba and Yugi seemed surprised by how deeply Jounouchi felt about this, prompting her to say, “My mom’s a bit…strict. She had two daughters, she expected us to be…um…well, she expected something like us to be great. Perfect little girls for her to show off to dad’s boss and the like, but we…well, I wasn’t. I hated it. Dad wasn’t perfect either – he drank too much, he was too…American. And I looked like him, so I wasn’t a perfect little girl for her to show off either. Shizuka…well, she looked like mom, and was quiet and beautiful. Even as kids, it was kinda obvious that Shizuka was the one mom liked, but…I didn’t just want her to be an ornament. I wanted Shizuka happy, and she hated the events that put her in the spotlight. She hated that mom was always so upset about rescheduling when Shizuka was in the hospital. So…so I tried to take care of her. Mom wasn’t about to let _dad_ do anything but work himself into an early grave or drink himself to death. The more I was myself, the more mom hated who I was. But Shizuka loved it. She loved that I was able to do so much with her, that I was so brave, that I was able to take care of dad and her when Mom was too busy…then after the divorce, Mom took her away. They live too far away for me to travel to see them, even if I save up, and…” she looked down, hoping it would hide the tears threatening to spill over. “What type of a sister am I, that I can’t be there for her? I was gonna get the money and hope it worked, or something, so that way…that way, at least, she won’t feel like a failure.”

The hug from Mokuba was unexpected, but he had his own problems, if the story about what was going on with KaibaCorp was true, and Jounouchi wrapped an arm around him, smiling down at him as he stayed latched onto her middle. She glanced over at Yugi, who seemed both thoughtful but also uncertain of what to say. He finally settled on saying, “Um…I mean…she can still…do a lot, if she’s blind.”

Jounouchi smiled at the question. “Yeah, I know…she’s had some bouts of temporary blindness before, and she’s gotten used to the idea of possibly being blind.” Mokuba hadn’t let go instead seeming to relax against her, and Jounouchi put a protective arm around him. “Just…mom isn’t so happy about the idea. About her perfect daughter having a medical defect when the imperfect one doesn’t.”

The group was silent for a bit longer, Mokuba finally saying, “If we get through this…I…I’ll make sure she gets the operation! Don’t you worry, Katsuye! I’ll even make sure she has it in Domino, so you can go see her!”

“You sure your brother will be up for that?” she asked, getting Mokuba to hug her a bit tightly. “I know he’s asleep right now, but…well, I’m guessing since you’re gone and everything, he’s gonna pull his head out and come after you. That’s what big brothers and sisters do.”

“I’ll make sure he’s ok with it!” Mokuba told her, though with a bit less force, “And I have money! I own 1% of KaibaCorp stock, I can still use some of it to make sure everything works out.”

It got her to smile, and Mokuba smiled back at her, apparently all set to plan out how he was going to make sure she saw Shizuka. Yugi smiled at her as well, putting the Puzzle back on right before he froze. Nearby, Bakura sat up suddenly, moving to pull out the Millennium Ring from his pack. One of the dangling pieces was pointing weakly at the Puzzle, but the other was glowing, and pointed directly at where the castle was.

“Wh-what’s that--.” Mokuba started just as they heard a crash and muffled cry in the bushes, and a strange, throaty chuckle.

“Mai!” Jounouchi said, standing with Mokuba and the two starting to head over when another voice broke through the quiet, waking Honda and Anzu as it did.

“Mo-ku-ba…wh-ere are you?”

The two froze, Jounouchi looking torn before Yugi stepped in, grabbing hold of Mokuba’s hand. “I’ll protect him. Go!”

With a nod, Jounouchi raced off, Anzu taking off after her as Bakura and Honda moved to stand with Yugi, looking at the shadow that was near the edge of their clearing, a strange white suit standing out against the darkness.

“Ah, Yu-gi. Wh-at a sur-pri-se. C-ome. Let-s du-el, sh-all we?”

In front of them, a gross caricature of the person Yugi had known, was a puppet of Seto Kaiba.

\--

It was a bit hard to find Mai, and by the time they did, she was sitting in a Duel Box, a huge man to one side and smirking as he looked out. “Oh, a new victim.”

“Jounouchi! You have to watch out, he’s a player-killer!”

Jounouchi glared at the huge man as he walked out, grabbing Mai by the hand and saying, “You really up for a fight, girly? I’ve already taken down more of the others, and this woman didn’t stand a chance!”

“Screw you,” Jounouchi growled, her glare intensifying at the abuse Mai was going through, “You going to try me or not?”

The man chuckled, releasing Mai and saying, “I was waiting on your boyfriend. After all, Pegasus put out a good reward for him to get taken out. I do that, and this tournament is all but over!”

Jounouchi winced at the announcement as Mai and Anzu looked surprised at how stingy and cruel Pegasus could be.

“Besides, even if the rules say that you need ten star chips to get into the finals…Pegasus only wants _four_ to get in. You aren’t one of those four, so I’ll just add you to my victim’s list!”

“You talk big for a creep,” Jounouchi finally told him, pointing into the box, “Get you fat ass into that box and shut up before I _make_ you – and don’t think I’m afraid of getting physical!”

The man chuckled. “Don’t think I’m not either. What are you offering up to pay for the extra chips I have to get from you?”

She glared at the implication, finally saying, “I’m not offering you anything.”

“WHAT?”

“You’re a coward and a thief, a freak of nature who couldn’t play this game without cheating, and a bully who only goes for players you think are weaker then you. That’s evident in the fact that you beat someone like Mai. So I’m not offering you anything…you wanna take my chances at being a Duelist, you take them. But I’m offering up my two chips, won fairly, against your eight that you stole!”

The Player Killer growled in anger before Jounouchi smirked and added, “Also, if you don’t beat me, you can’t get to Yugi. So your prize money and chance at getting this all over with is gone…well, creep? Still think you can beat me?”

“I’ll wipe the floor with you!”

“Then put up those eight chips, and let’s see who’s better.”

\--

The few guards from earlier, along with the dummy and its owner, were not about to let Mokuba go without a fight, though the proposal of having a ‘Duel’ to allow Mokuba to stay with Yugi was not something that either he or the spirit liked. Yami was angry about…something…that Yugi could barely understand, though he knew it had something to do with it being dark and the Shadows. He allowed Yami to come forward, saying he would speak to Mokuba for a moment, before Bakura and Honda moved to give them protection and a place to be alone.

Mokuba glared at Yami. It was obvious he still hadn’t forgiven him for what happened, and Yami didn’t expect him to. He’d done it because of how Kaiba had been turning out, and while he knew it would have bad implications, he hadn’t realized the full extent of them until now.

“Saying I am sorry will do little to help your brother,” Yami said, “but know this…that _thing_ is not him. Someone else is manipulating this.”

Mokuba slowly relaxed and looked worriedly at the box. “Can you win?”

“Yes. Not only that, I _will_ win. I am not about to let your brother’s image be used in such a way.” He glared at the guards and then back to the others. The other guards had their eyes on Bakura and Honda, keeping the trio from escaping or getting too close. He glared at them, noting the stronger traces of Shadows on them. Pegasus had a good hold on them, and even if he managed to throw off his hold on the island for the night, that didn’t mean he could influence them.

 _Damn_.

He was stuck, but of the options, the only one that might let them get to the castle was to defeat this player and deal with the consequences of it when they got into the castle. Whatever Pegasus’ ideas, he couldn’t plan for everything.

Yugi moved to the box, setting his deck in as the puppet chuckled at him, saying he’d come back from Hell to deal with Yugi himself. He glared at the soulless object and the man manipulating it before drawing his three cards. One of the men Mokuba had remembered from Death-T, and if that was true, then it was likely they stole Kaiba’s deck to try and throw him off.

If anything, that made him angrier. Did Pegasus have no morals whatsoever? Were he and people like Shadii so ready to abuse the Shadows that they didn’t realize the backlash this would have on them?

With a glare to the men outside of the box, Yami finally began his Duel.

\--

Mokuba had escape a little before noon, with the Duels in full-swing and Pegasus certain of his inability to escape from the tower. Luck and years of learning to climb or hide from others meant he was able to get out, but the added paranoia after getting kidnapped was something that left Mokuba running and hiding into the woods where Duels were being played out.

Seto woke, muttering his brother’s name in a worried tone, an hour after Mokuba’s escape, when his brother lay cowering and frightened as he saw some of the men who’d once been loyal to him, trying to get his location out of someone who didn’t know, than disqualifying the boy from the tournament. His nurse and doctor were surprised, and despite wanting to check on things, Seto was quick to learn that he wasn’t quite up for walking, due to the months of being in a magically-induced coma, and that the Big Five had attempted to take over, or at least steal the patent and give it to Pegasus. It was the type of thing he hated when in business, mostly because it was petty, cruel, and had been used to try to punish him when Gozaburo was alive. Now…now it was pulling Mokuba into the frame, and he couldn’t allow that.

So the doctor and nurse promised to remain silent and help him at least stand and get ready to go and confront Pegasus, the doctor seeming amazed at his recovery but also warning against too much physical activity. Seto had glared at him but took the advice to heart. He wasn’t going to be running anywhere, but at the same time, knowing what Pegasus could do…he had to be prepared to stand for at least the length of a card game, and hope the system he’d been developing before the show-down with Yugi. His staff wasn’t really notified of much, but by the time he got everything together, including his suitcase, the prototypes, and changed out of the white outfit Gozaburo insisted on, he felt ready to take on the man behind Duel Monsters. His new outfit, a dark pair of slacks and black shirt, as well as a dark purple coat, made him almost feel like Yugi and that other persona, but it was comfortable and, as an added benefit, it had been the suit he wore when going to get the money he’d needed to take over KaibaCorp. In a way, it was more like armor then the white suit or anything else he could up on.

It was late afternoon when he headed for Pegasus’ island, lucky enough to find the coordinates. He was worried about that, though – Pegasus had begun to value his privacy years ago, and finding such a thing so easily could mean that he was being lured into a trap.

The problem, of course, was why. Why lure him here, and why did Pegasus want the Solid State Illusions? It made little sense from the public persona that Pegasus always pushed forward, but it also made Kaiba afraid of what could occur. It also worried him about what the Big Five were planning. He should’ve fired them when he had the chance.

He did his best to focus but it was a bit hard as the helicopter got off the ground and headed out. He knew his brother was gone, that he’d left behind a strange necklace with an old photo that Kaiba had nearly forgotten…

_“Hey, whatcha doin’?” Katsuye asked, looking over at chess board from next to Mokuba._

_“Nii-sama is teaching me to play!” Mokuba said happily, smiling up at the girl who’d found him at the small park and stayed with him until Seto could come get him. The girl had also started delivering papers for them, and often blushed whenever he smiled at her._

_“Wow!” Katsuye said, also smiling as one of the directors of the orphanage came in with a camera, looking over the group and smiling when she saw the three. Even though Katsuye had a family, she had been allowed to come in and visit with Mokuba and Seto from time to time._

_Seto liked Katsuye. She was different, and didn’t make fun of his accent, and had said she was a bit sister too so ‘older siblings’ had to stick together. Mokuba followed her around whenever he could, and Seto could relax a bit, knowing that someone else was helping him care for Mokuba. He wondered if her not making fun of his accent was because she was different too – her dad had some funny name and her hair had turned out a sort of medium brown and her eyes weren’t as dark as some others._

_“Ok, everyone,” the trio looked over and smiled, Katsuye kneeling near Mokuba and Seto smiling at the camera as he felt a bit of warmth in his chest. He was so glad to have Katsuye here, and to have met her…_

He touched the area where the small locket now hung. The picture had been torn, but still had Katsuye and Mokuba in it, smiling out at him happily. It reminded him of the odd dreams he’d had, when he’d been in a coma and shouldn’t have had dreams, or so he thought. Apparently the doctor was also confused that he didn’t lose a lot of muscle mass despite not actually moving and only doing small exercises, though all were assisted. Whatever had happened to him after the fateful duel, it made him feel…odd.

 _Like I’m putting myself back together,_ he thought, looking out the window as they flew. _Like I had to pick up and look at all that happened and figure out where it fit in my life._

He also wondered if it meant that he was changed in some way. It felt like he was, but it only seemed noticeable if he thought about it or about the odd dream of examining all of his life, of slowly putting his life together and figuring out why he felt the way he had, what affected his outlook in life.

Kaiba let out a breath as he considered how things were going. Mokuba was gone, and whatever it was that Pegasus was planning, it was obvious he either didn’t think that Kaiba would reach his island, or that Kaiba _would_ and would instantly get into his trap. And if so, why was Pegasus trying to get his patent? Working with KaibaCorp would be easier, and cheaper in the long-run. So why go through all this to get the Solid State Illusions patent? And why have such a secretive tournament on an island without any media coverage?

_And why are we going in circles now?_

The press of metal against the back of his head made it hard for Kaiba to turn his head, instead stuck with watching the sunset.

“You noticed, huh? I didn’t think a little thing like the sunset would tip you off.”

“So…you decided to be loyal to…which one? The Big Five? Or Pegasus?”

The guard chuckled. “Does it matter? You’re not making it to the island, and you’re not interfering in the plans either.” The gun pushed deeper into the side of Kaiba’s skull as the last of the sunlight disappeared from the horizon. “I have my orders. I don’t owe you an explanation either.”

The night was just starting and felt…heavy. Like a sensation from before, from the first time he’d battled Yugi’s other self. He frowned as he looked out the window, listening to one of the pilot’s mild panic as the other one telling him to shut up or he’d be tossed out of the helicopter as well. The guard with the gun to Kaiba’s head barked out an order about letting the door open, and Kaiba frowned as he heard one of them talking about something, about seeing something blue in the darkness, then another thing, a red something.

“Shut up or--.”

There were twin roars, and he saw something like a snake out of the corner of his eye before there was another scream and the whole of the helicopter went silent. He looked back over, seeing the seats beside and in front of him were now empty, the pilot who’d protested shaking like a leaf as he glanced back at Kaiba.

“What happened?” Kaiba asked, moving to take the copilot’s seat as the man shook his head. He appeared to have been in shock at the whole thing. Kaiba let out a breath and finally nodded. “I can help fly this…and when you’re ready, you can head back to the mainland and have someone you trust await my call. Will that help?”

The pilot nodded as Kaiba put on the headphones and took over the controls. He didn’t know what had happened, but he did know that the heaviness in the air was gone, and that could only mean _something_ had happened…something on the nearest island, on Pegasus’ little self-resort.

 _Mokuba…_ Pegasus had Mokuba, and if he did have an item like Yugi’s, but the ruthlessness of a businessman instead of what bit of pride Yugi had in himself, then…

Kaiba pushed the helicopter to go faster.

\--

It was easy enough to fake out the Player Killer, and to get what she wanted out of the game with minimal damage to herself. What she hadn’t expected was the guy suddenly screaming about a gallows, and then screaming again about falling before he fell silent and slumped to the side. Outside, she saw Mai and Anzu shuddering, as if they weren’t sure what was going on either, while Jounouchi grabbed the eight Star Chips and headed out, looking around as they heard a commotion nearby.

“Yugi! Mokuba!”

The trio of girls ran to where the sound of a fight was starting, Jounouchi quickly noticing one guy racing off with a small, struggling shape as Yami yelled something from inside the box, his opponent screaming at something. Bakura was backed up against the glass box but Honda was taking out the two goons as Jounouchi raced after the man holding Mokuba.

“Jounouchi!” “Katsuye!” she ignored the yells in favor of diving to try to get the man, a sudden shift in the shadows around them as Mokuba reached for her causing the two to disappear and her to hit the ground hard.

“FUCK!”

Mai helped her up, the other Duelist holding her steady as they finally headed back to the main area. Honda had knocked out and stuffed the men into the glass box where the other Duelist was still freaking out over something. Bakura was getting checked over by Anzu and Yami was looking like murder was the least of their worries.

“Pegasus took them,” Yami muttered, Mai apparently deciding to not ask anything. She and Anzu had somehow gotten some sort of a friendship during Jounouchi’s duel against the Player Killer of Darkness or whatever the hell his stupid name was, and Jounounchi was, right now, just _angry_ at what happened.

Mokuba had been kidnapped. He’d been kidnapped and whatever else, she doubted Pegasus would treat him well. She’s shaking, the star chips digging into her hand as Mai slowly opens it up and takes them back.

“I’m going to borrow these, ok?” she tells Jounouchi with a small smile, “So when we get into Pegasus’ castle, at least three of us will be there and ready to take him on for what he did.” She gave Yami a small smile as he came up. “Jounouchi kicked someone’s ass…I’m not asking what else is going on, because it sounds like a lot of stuff I won’t get.”

Yami let out the breath he’d been holding, seeming to relax a bit. “The easiest answer is that Pegasus…had a way to make it easier to find and hurt the other Duelists. I’m guessing that we’re down to maybe half, if not less.”

“Our guy said Pegasus is only allowing four people in,” Jounouchi told him, pulling herself together. Mai was right, she was getting into that castle and dealing with Pegasus, as well as finding Mokuba. Even if he’d been a brat earlier, it was obvious that he’d calmed a bit and was no longer such a tool. At the same time, she had said she’d protect him, and hadn’t been able to.

“We should get some rest,” Anzu finally said, looking a bit worried before the group slowly nodded, heading back to their camp. Mai kept near Jounouchi, Honda looking upset at having gotten caught and unable to help himself, and Bakura also looking down for being useless in the fight. Yami was looking angry, but at a breath he disappeared to allow Yugi control, the other side looking confused and angry himself. Anzu helped Bakura and Honda as they got back and went to their sleeping spots, Yugi also finding a place to rest as Anzu, Mai, and Jounouchi went into the small tent. Though it was a tight fit, the three managed to get comfortable and rested for a bit.

“AHHH! SNAKE!”

Jounouchi left Yugi and Bakura to deal with that one, and rolled over. Anzu and Mai, who didn’t move either, apparently felt the same way.

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU BRING _THAT_?”

Wow, Yugi was loud. Anzu muttered and Mai looked annoyed, but otherwise the trio were able to get some sleep.

Well, up until the helicopter decided to fly over.

\--

Mai supposed she should be impressed by Kaiba, though it was a bit obvious that there was some animosity between him and Yugi. Not that she blamed them – Kaiba’s pride had probably been hurt by that Duel, and considering what they’d learned about the tournament, it wasn’t surprising that he felt the need to protect his investment.

What _did_ piss her off was his dismissal of Jounouchi when she tried to talk to him, apparently not realizing she was trying to talk to him about something besides this damned tournament. Yugi had to push Jounouchi back as she looked ready to hit the guy, shaking and finally pointing to the taller man in anger.

“ _I’m challenging you, Duelist-style!_ ”

“Do you even hear yourself before you speak? Know your place!”

Mai nearly stepped in right before Kaiba added, smirking a bit as he did, “Fine, I’ll Duel you… here.”

“What?”

“Here…I need a test subject.”

Before Jounouchi could say anything at the insult, she was handed a small disk, Kaiba explaining the way it worked. Mai blinked and watched, curious. If this was a new invention, it would at least make Duels and similar card games a bit more interesting.

As far as Duels went, of course, it seemed par for the course. Jounouchi had a good grouping of cards, but apparently no actual magic cards to add. Top that off with the Battle Ox just crushing through them, it became obvious that it just wasn’t going to end well. Kaiba wasn’t exactly nice about her inability to pull out a stronger monster than his polymerized Minotaur.

“What’s wrong?” he finally said as she pulled the disk back in and drew a new card, “Your boyfriend not able to give you any good hints with your weak cards?”

“ _Yugi and I are not dating!_ ” Jounouchi yelled as she threw the disk, the Red Eyes she’d won roaring to live and devouring Kaiba’s monster, “ _Get that through your thick skull and the thick-ass skull of everyone else who thinks that!_ ”

Kaiba smirked at her, pulling back the disk for once and finally asking, “So…not happy with the results?”

“The hell are you going on about?” Jounouchi asked, looking angry at him as her dragon roared above them, brought to life by Kaiba’s technology.

“Most people would be happy over winning a measly battle on one-turn,” he pointed out in that goading way of his, “shouldn’t you act like the idiot you are and start celebrating? After all, you managed to scratch me a bit, mutt.”

She saw Jounouchi suddenly stiffen, and though Mai couldn’t see her face, she wondered as Kaiba smirked again before saying, “I said I’d shatter that glass confidence of yours, and it’s time I did. Its card I’ve been holding onto…the one that Yugi so graciously gave back to me when I got here.”

 He summoned the Blue Eyes White Dragon, the virtual monster roaring to life as the Black Dragon near Jounouchi roared back, attempting an attack despite its lower attack numbers. When the monster was destroyed, ending the Duel, the Duel Disk or whatever it was called jumped back even faster at Jounouchi, loudly hitting her hand as she caught it and took out the cards while Kaiba stood with the monster roaring behind him, finally calling the disk back to him and ending the game himself.

“I’m the one who’s going to face Pegasus, Yugi. The only thing you’re going to be is weighed down by that loser of a girl who’s probably the weakest Duelist on this island.”

“Y-you don’t know what she’s going through, Kaiba!” Yugi started, “You--.”

“Stop,” Mai said, stepping forward and crossing her arms, looking at Kaiba. She could see why he wasn’t considered _good_ so much as just someone who ran a _burn deck_. A lot of people did, but few had the money or luck that let them use it. Kaiba had been lucky, and he’d acted like that was all his work, not something else. “Everyone here has a reason to Duel. The difference is our luck.” Kaiba snorted and shook her head. Mai took the disk from Jounouchi and tossed it at Kaiba before slapping him hard. “You don’t get to start. I’ve seen enough cocky fucks like you lose it all with a bad hand or a misstep on the wheel, one set of numbers they didn’t bet on and they’re out of cash before they start crying and making bad choices about who they should trust for extra money. You’re going to blame it on everyone else, or pick on her just because you think she’s an easy target.” Mai took on her ‘queen’ stance, straightening her neck and looking at Kaiba with the same contempt that he’d been leveling at Jounouchi. “Pegasus isn’t going to give you a pass because you have money and he decided to screw you over. He’s doing this for another reason, and the sooner you realize this isn’t just all about you, the better.”

He glared at her, eyes flickering over to Jounouchi as she stood and looked away, Yugi standing before him while Anzu, Bakura, and Honda surrounded her. He finally looked back over at her before saying, “I have the only way that will defeat Pegasus, and I don’t have anything weighing me down. So I really don’t see you losers managing anything because you’re not doing what’s needed to win.” He turned and walked off, everyone silent as he did and Mai looked back over at Jounouchi, who seemed determined to glare a hole in the ground.

“It’s late,” Anzu finally said, letting out a breath, “we need to try to get some rest.”

The group nodded, heading back to their tents as Yugi glanced over at Jounouchi. “Katsuye.”

“I’ll be fine,” she told him, shrugging and not really meeting anyone’s eye, “besides, it’s not like we didn’t think this wouldn’t happen. It’s not like he was really going to change after a year. And I pulled some shitty cards, on a system I didn’t know. Of course I’m not gonna win…it’s kinda designed for that.”

“Enough, please,” Mai muttered, stretching and yawning deeply, “I’m tired, let’s just go to bed and forget about all this.”

Apparently, everyone is fine with this, going to their own places to rest. Anzu decided against sleeping in the tent, instead going to check on Yugi, which left Mai and Jounouchi alone in the small place.

She was shaking again, similar to how Mai had seen her on the ship, and Mai let out a small sigh before pulling the younger girl into a hug. It was a testament to how out of it she was that she allowed it and let Mai rub her back a bit.

“I…I can’t…after all that…wh-why would he call me that?” Jounouchi swallowed, trying hard to not cry and looking a bit out of it. Mai squeezed her close, letting out a sigh. She could guess a lot of Jounouchi’s problems when she saw her – too tall for a girl, too manly, and she simply wasn’t what a lot of men were looking for in a girl. Added her being in Japan, which really didn’t want that in a woman…

“He said it because he’s a jerk,” Mai told her, slowly rubbing Jounouchi’s back, “He doesn’t know you, Katsuye, and he obviously just likes to pick on people. You managed to beat me, to beat Ryuzaki, and you’ve shown to be one of the best Duelists in this area. The rules are screwy…that’s all that you’ve got against you, and even with that, you’ve held your own. Besides, what does Kaiba know anyway? Brat. Next time we see him—“

“It doesn’t matter,” Jounouchi finally said, pulling away and looking far from comforted. “he’s not the first person to say it, and he won’t be the last. But…I guess I never expected him to say that.” She let out a snort that sounded more like a cut-off cry. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up at all.”


	6. Life's Value

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba's words have a negative impact on Jounouchi's temper, while Kaiba himself grows more worried about Mokuba's safety. Also, Kaiba and Yami don't know when to ask for help.

Mai and Yugi were up early, though Mai wasn’t sure if it was that Yugi was “up early” or had just stayed up all night. He looked up at her as she picked up a bit of the stuff and motioned to the tent. “I’ll get it back from you guys when I get to the castle.”

“You’re very confident,” Yugi said, shifting before giving her a smile. “We’ll be there. Count on it.”

She smiled at him before continuing on, leaving Yugi along with his thoughts. Yami had been so angry at Pegasus and his use of the Shadows that he’d hardly paid attention when Kaiba appeared. He’d known Katsuye had a hard time, and that Kaiba had been mean-spirited towards her…but he also didn’t trust himself to face Kaiba just yet.

With the influence and anger in the Shadows, he could’ve hurt Kaiba for what he did to Katsuye, or thrown him back into the coma he’d just come out of. The effects, either way, would be hurtful to Mokuba and, Yugi suspected, to Katsuye as well.

 _She told you some secret…_ the cool voice of Yami rolled over him, sounding calmer than he had the night before, and finally the other side of him said, _I won’t ask. It’s up to Jounouchi to tell me what is wrong. She gave you a secret, I am going to honor it. But we do have to hurry. Pegasus’ work to depopulate the island of Duelists was stopped, but I fear a few were hurt before Jounouchi and I could stop the Player Killers._ He was silent a moment longer. _I’m also worried about the state of any of the souls Pegasus might be keeping._

**_What do you mean?_ **

_You remember your time in the Dragon Jar?_ At the mental nod, Yami continued, _the Shadows are normally in a balance. Somehow, it’s unbalanced…and I’m thinking it has for a small while._ A pause, as if worried to mention how long before Yami simply says, _it’s been about 8 years, Yugi._

**_…since I started the puzzle._ **

_Since you noticed and decided to work on it. Despite the dire warnings, you believed in the Shadows to do good, instead of evil. Your optimism and happiness, your belief in friends instead of using the Shadows for evil is what helped me to balance the Shadows. Because of you and your friends, I have begun to understand more of my past, and have become a better person. I still have my own problems, my own faults…but at least I can work to help._

Yugi managed a smile at that, letting out a breath and letting Yami take control as the others woke, Jounouchi frowning when she saw Mai was gone before Yami delivered her message. She relaxed a bit, the obvious tension and issues from the Duel last night still weighing on her mind. On the upside, neither she nor Anzu asked about where he’d been, or why he hadn’t stood up for her. It was a change that he was grateful for, that Anzu seemed to understand that Jounouchi was a strong Duelist in her own right, and a strong person.

It still angered him, what Kaiba had done, and he had some idea that something else was bothering Jounouchi, something else that Kaiba had said. Still, she wasn’t talking about it, and seemed far too focused on everything else, instead looking over at the tent before getting Honda to help her take it down. Anzu looked over at him, shifting a bit and looking worried.

“Is…I mean, is Yugi ok?”

“Yes…he’s tired, and needed some rest. Last night was…quite draining, for both of us in our own ways.”

Anzu nodded. She hadn’t been witness to his Duel against the ventriloquist or the work to get the Shadows Pegasus had cast off the island. That he’d had help also worried him, but it was from the fringes, so it could, at least, signal an ally in this fight. That part, at least, he was glad about – defeating Pegasus, as well as Shadii and his group, would be hard enough alone. At least with someone to help him out, he could focus and not have to worry as much.

The group had soon cleared out the camp and headed back out to the field and forest area, seeing a few early-morning duels underway already, and others just starting to wake up or search for other Duelists. The group paused to go and get their morning routines done, or at least be ‘alone’ for a few minutes. It’s only about thirty minutes after they go to do their own thing that the group realizes Jounouchi is missing.

\--

Jounouchi is _not_ in the mood for a lot of things. She’s not in the mood to talk about her feelings, especially not after what Kaiba said. She’s not in the mood to talk about her past with Kaiba, or the reason why she didn’t think he’d ever call her _that word_. She personally blames him getting adopted by a man who, according to her dad, Layla, and multiple sources, was an unrepentant asshole who reveled in being better at everything, selling weapons, selling espionage, or otherwise doing what he could to make life miserable.

So she’s very much not in the mood to be dragged into a cave full of skeletons, put in a Duel box with a lock on it, and told to Duel some kid who looks like he belongs in a zombie movie. She’s very much not in the mood to have some punk biker wannabe watching and glaring and smirking the whole time.

Also, she’s in a _cave with skeletons like a damned horror film_. She wants to get out of this Duel, back to sunlight, and cry for a few days when she gets home.

She’s also trying very hard to not think about _when_ the group of guys grabbed her, and what that normally would’ve meant if they weren’t so focused on getting into Pegasus’ castle. It would be her luck that the only guys who focused on her were either people like Hirutani and his gang of apes, or guys who apparently just wanted her for the Star Chips she had.

Mostly she was trying _very hard_ to not think about the _skeletons and skulls_ behind her and _why did I think about that? NO! BAD BRAIN!_

Not that her brain had been much help to her last night either. Losing to Kaiba had not been the worse thing to happen to her - losing a chance to go to a quarter-finals because the guys she went up against were sexist and handsy was also not the worse thing to happen to her, but all of that was in her past and mostly carried the name Hirutani with it.

Nope, it was the fact that Kaiba had called her a _mutt_ , that the guy she now recognized as that Seto kid from the orphanage who’d played chess and worried about his little brother and who she--

“Will you stop taking advice from your boyfriends and just play?” she growled, glaring at the headset and how worried that zombie-looking kid was as he glanced over at his friends and the punk-wannabe. She’d gotten accused enough of getting advice from Yugi and them being a couple, she might as well deal with it. Not to mention they were in a hidden Duel arena and the guys were _cheating assholes_ who liked to _kidnap people right after they’d taken a pee._

She was holding in those jokes for later.

The three cards he played were normal cards, all of them lower than her own, and she had to wonder at his strategy. If he had a specific card, or was able to pull one for the Graveyard field they had, then she’d be in trouble. So far, the kid hadn’t pulled any Zombie cards, and most of his whispered conversations seemed to say he didn’t trust his own instincts, but was trusting the punk-wannabe for playing his cards. It wasn’t exactly something that Jounouchi liked the sight of, and one of the many reasons she’d been unhappy with the insinuations and hints that she only won because of Yugi’s influence or help. Yugi ran his own deck, one that was balanced and full of spellcasters, monsters, and a few good spells to made it so he could counter nearly any attack or strategy he faced. Jounouchi ran a deck full of warriors and monsters, with a few spell-cards that helped them out. Her newest addition, the Red Eyes, seemed to fit into the deck well, and she was grateful for that.

So, of course, the damned zombie and his master got their raised zombies, then added points to them, and then worked to defeat her.

Her luck wasn’t as bad as it had been against Kaiba, but it wasn’t the best either. For one, the Time Wizard failed to use Time Magic, resulting in her having to go on the defensive when she could, and right as the kid pulled a ‘stop defense’ card and made a big show of it.

 _Assholes_ , she thought, drawing her next card. She had only a few good ones to work with, and happily had the Red Eyes in her hand. She could use that to deal with the Pumpkin, but it’d end up being sacrificed to one of the stronger monsters. And, of course, she couldn’t play any of her lower monsters in defense right now, because of that bastard’s card.

But it was a gambit and she had to play it. If she was lucky, she’d get the one card to win this on her next draw.

“Will you hurry up, you loser mutt?”

“ _WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL ME?_ ”

The slamming on the table was enough to startle the zombie kid back, though the punk still smirked like he owned the damn island, and Jounouchi glared at the bastard as the others shifted away from him. “I am not a loser, and if you call me ‘mutt’ again…”

_Mutt, loser, half-breed, Yankee, is that even your real hair color, who’d ever want a mutt like you?_

_Shouldn’t you act like the idiot you are and start celebrating? After all, you managed to scratch me a bit...mutt._

Jounouchi pulled the card out with more force than necessary and, seeing it, leveled her own glare at the man. “I’m a mutt, huh? I’m a fucking loser, huh? Here’s your loser, you punk-ass little bitch. I play Ultimator in attack mode, and I use the spell card Sword and Shield. For those of you who _can’t read_ , it means your zombies don’t have any attack points... _and_ they’re all in Attack Mode. It also means _my_ Ultimator’s Attack is now up to 1000, and you don’t have the life-points to stand up to it.” The fighting monster went for the undead dragon, the rest disappearing as the zombie-kid’s lifepoints dropped to zero and Jounouchi moved to grab up the eight Star Chips that were now hers. Behind the zombie kid, the punk wannabe was cursing up a storm as Jounouchi got out of the box, the two glaring each other down. The guy was blond naturally under his stars-and-stripes cap, and despite the dark sunglasses, Jounouchi guessed he was an American.

_Which means he’s probably that guy Pegasus pissed off...Bandit Keith or whatever._

Not that it mattered to Jounouchi, though his stance and look told her everything she needed to know about him. ‘Punk-ass bitch’ was a nice term. He was a guy who took too much pride in himself, who bullied others, and who reminded her too much of Hirutani and his gang. He was going to do what he could to get to the castle, and that meant he’d lie, cheat, and beat his way to the top.

_He only has these losers because they’re gullible and easy. The minute he’s done with them, they’re gonna be in a world of pain. Idiots._

She blinked as she saw her friends racing towards her, Keith and his lackeys leaving the way they came. Something bugged her, and she quickly said, “Look, can we get out of here? I’m not good with graveyards.”

Which was completely the truth and she didn’t want to deal with the hidden Duel Box anymore. Besides, she had eight Star Chips, that meant she was nearly to Pegasus’ castle.

Of course, Jounouchi had been unconscious when they’d dragged her in, so she had to rely on the others to show her the way out, and they were taking their _sweet-ass time_.

“There is nothing awesome about this place, can we _leave already_?” she demanded just as they got to the entrance...and a boulder was rolled over it.

\--

Seto Kaiba was in a bad mood when he got to the island, and running into Yugi and his friends had not really brightened it. It was one of the reasons he’d tested out the Duel Disk system on that weakling girl - he now had a gauge of what Pegasus considered ‘competition’.

His bad mood was not helped by that woman’s insinuation that he was _lucky_ at the game. He had skill, there was no luck involved in taking down Jounouchi. Her managing to hit his life points was luck on her side, and a show in how incompetent the other duelists here were. Kaiba was pretty sure the only reason Yugi wasn’t at the castle already was a lack of competition, or at least a lack of those with _spines_.

After what happened to him, Kaiba had no illusions about himself, or about what he felt for that loud-mouthed, crass girl that hung around Yugi like a pilot fish around a shark. She was still useless to him, nothing more than some girl that Mokuba thought was an old friend and, despite her protests about not being Yugi’s girlfriend, obviously well used in some areas.  So really, having her around was going to be a distraction, just as it was for Yugi.

Right now, he wasn’t thinking so much about them, though, save for the fact that the mutt was important to Mokuba, and that Mokuba was in this dungeon. Mostly, he was thinking about how much blood would splatter onto him when he finally killed Croquet and got out of this place. The manservant of Pegasus had been easy enough to grab, and finding many of the old guard who’d worked under Gozaburo was not that surprising – the man that Kaiba had once called ‘father’ had no idea how to hire people, and so it wasn’t that surprising that there were still a few who had other allegiances.

It was a bit amazing what a gun to the back of a person’s head could bring, and thus far Croquet had been very obviously afraid and only showing him the way down into the dank dungeon area. Kaiba’s blood began to boil at the thought that his brother was in this area, that Mokuba had been thrown into one of these cells and left to rot…

“It’s…it’s near here…” Croquet said, swallowing as Kaiba pushed the gun against his back. It was easy enough to threaten death, but Kaiba had decided that threatening to maim Croquet instead, leaving him to bleed out. The duralumin case was also a good threat – the case was heavy enough to do damage, and that had been with Kaiba not even throwing it as hard as he could. Luckily, Croquet and Saruwatari knew that, and Saruwatari at least understood how dangerous Kaiba could be when he was determined.

_I’ll get Mokuba out of here, and leave Yugi to deal with Pegasus. After all, the man’s main focus is on power via that magical mind-reading that he pulled on Bandit Keith…I can deal with his company easily enough._

Pegasus and Industrial Illusions were going down, just as quickly, if not quicker, than the Big Five would when Kaiba was done here. He’d left them in power far too long, and even with less executive power, it was obvious the group would work to try to take power, just as they had under Gozaburo. He didn’t doubt they were behind half of the problems with the company stemmed from them, and he was ready to ruin them in whatever way he could.

They finally made it to the one occupied cell, Mokuba standing as Kaiba came into view. “Nii-sama!”

“Mokuba,” he said, keeping the gun trained on Croquet as he looked at his brother and the cell he was in. The lock appeared to be a trick lock of some sort, the odd eye that was on that pendant-thing Yugi and his alter-ego wore glaring out at him, though the coloring was darker than the one on Yugi’s, and it was surrounded by what appeared to be some sort of ancient text. Mokuba was dirty, looking worn and frightened, having kept near the wall despite the length that the shackles at his ankles could allow him. More text was on the ground to a point, and Mokuba appeared both frightened as well as worried for Kaiba as he looked out.

“Ah, Kaiba-boy,” the sound of a new voice made Kaiba turn, dragging Croquet in front of him as a shield and hostage while he glared over at Pegasus. “You found your sneaky little brother. Well done. Though, I hope you both learn some _manners_. I offer him a good place to stay, but somehow that’s not good enough…he had to leave without even saying goodbye.”

“You rat! You kidnapped me and kept me in that place!” Mokuba shouted, though he didn’t move too much from where he was. It made Kaiba think that he’d seen or been threatened by something, enough that his brother was too afraid to move.

A new anger spiked in him as he glared at Pegasus anew. “Open the door and let my brother out. We’re leaving.”

Pegasus seemed to consider before saying, “Oh, of course…though on one condition.”

Kaiba glared at him, having an idea of what Pegasus was going to ask him for. “You want me to defeat Yugi.”

“Ah, good boy! I’m glad you see your part in all of this.” Pegasus smirked in a way that made Kaiba’s rage only increase. “Now, Yugi is on his way to winning the last few star chips needed to get in. You win against him, you can fight me. You beat me,” he motioned to the lock and the hieroglyphs on the floor, “and I’ll let out Mokuba-boy.”

“Don’t do it, Nii-sama! It’s a trick!”

As Kaiba watched, the glyphs seemed to take to life, shifting and moving closer to Mokuba, who pressed against the wall in fear.  Kaiba felt his grip on Croquet slip, enough that the man turned and took the gun from him, taking that one trump card that Kaiba had. He might be able to hit him with the case, or possibly even fight his way out…but the months of being inactive were catching up to him already, as was the emotional toll of seeing Mokuba so afraid and so threatened. He didn’t know what the glyphs would do to him, but he also didn’t want to risk it either. If the reason he called on Yugi was because of that pendant and Yugi’s darker side, than Kaiba could only hope to defeat Pegasus with what he had on his side – his mind, his ability, and technology.

_Perhaps that woman was right…maybe it is mostly luck. And I’m running out of time._

Pegasus motioned to Croquet, who pulled out five Star Chips from his pocket and held them out for Kaiba to take. “Now, Yugi-boy should be on his way here soon, with his ten Star Chips. You challenge him, defeat him, defeat me…and I’ll let you and your brother go...” he smirked a bit. “I might even give the money to that little girl who entered illegally…the one that tried to keep your brother from me.”

Mokuba froze, and suddenly Kaiba knew what had pissed off Jounouchi so much, making him glare at Pegasus. The American smirked and waved as Croquet moved away from Kaiba. “Well, off you go, Kaiba-boy. Go deal with Yugi-boy, and maybe I’ll entertain a Duel between us.”

\--

Duels that involve tag-teams were not really that common, mostly because things could get complicated and confusing really quickly. Even if you build a deck to only do a tag-team Duel, like those Meikyuu brothers had done, it didn’t guarantee that you’d get the upper hand. Of course, the problem now was that they were being assholes and not letting the group out of the room, despite having lost and with both Jounouchi and Yugi having ten Star Chips.

Yami stayed seated as the group looked for the exit, or some clue in the room, while Bakura seemed a bit out of it as he watched and, covertly, snuck glances with his Millennium Ring about the way out. Jounouchi guessed his major thought was that the Meikyuu brothers were the liars they so obviously were, and for all their theatrics when the group arrived, a glance at Honda meant the two were positioned to easily take down the bastards by force if needed.

It wasn’t, of course. Yami appeared smug as he got the Meikyuu brothers to give them the real key and let them out of the room through trickery, while Bakura looked a bit off, causing Jounouchi to frown as they headed out, though he was back to his old self relatively quickly as they headed out of the last stretch of the corridor, which was very close to an exit. It made her wonder if they’d grabbed anyone during the night when Pegasus was being a douche as well, or if they’d just decided to hide in the maze on the off-chance Yugi would wander through with another player for a battle.

The exit took them right to the entrance of the castle, with hardly anyone in sight as they cheered, Yami looking grateful for the short walk and Jounouchi feeling herself grin at the sight. All they had to do was get up to the castle and win, defeat Pegasus at his own game…

It’s not really that surprising to see Kaiba waiting for them at the top of the stairs, glaring down at them like he normally does. Jounouchi glares back at him, unable to really forgive him for what he’d said and how he’d acted during their last “meeting”. He seems far more interested in Yami anyway, though that’s not all that surprising. His ego isn’t about to let him admit defeat, not to Yami and certain not when his company and his brother are on the line.

Yami glared up at Kaiba as they all stopped, the tall bastard standing with his arms crossed and his heavy suitcase at his feet, his eyes looking over the group and finally falling on Yami and Jounouchi, who’d taken the lead. Anzu seemed to shift under the glare, but looked defiant and ready to stop either Yami or Jounouchi from hurting Kaiba more than necessary. Bakura seemed a bit worried, as he’d only witnessed Kaiba’s duel with Jounouchi and had not met him before his arrival on the island. Honda apparently was only getting into a stance to stop Jounouchi from murdering Kaiba on the pretense that such a thing might be bad for her reputation.

Kaiba smirked when he saw the full glove on Jounouchi’s hand, as if her accomplishment amused him, before saying, “I see the level of competition on this island really is abysmal, if a deadbeat like you could win so easily.”

“Oh, decided to raise your opinion of me from ‘loser mutt’?” she spit out, her hands balling into fists as she shifted, looking ready to go after him despite the height-difference. Yami glared at him and finally straightened, looking at Kaiba with a dark look in his eyes. At times like this, Jounouchi wondered what it was in Yami’s past that made him look so regal and so cold.

“What do you want, Kaiba?”

“I’m here to challenge you,” he said, glancing as the main goon who’d taken Mokuba appeared, smirking as if he found the whole thing hilarious.

“Either Kaiba or Yugi will enter the castle right now – not both! You have no choice in this matter.”

Kaiba sent a sideways glare towards the man, as if he didn’t have the time or even disgust to turn towards the guy. “Saruwatari—“

“Don’t you have a child to kidnap, asshole?” Jounouchi interrupted, stepping in front of Yami and turning her anger towards the man, “Or do you have to wait for your master to cheat before you show yourself?”

“You watch your mouth, you—“ he stopped when she held up her hand, showing off the ten star chips. “H-how…”

“That’s right, I’m the _deadbeat_ who got in, so maybe you should show me a bit of respect like the dickless thug you are.”

“Jounouchi,” Yami said, getting her to back off before he looked back over to Kaiba, then nodded. “I see we have no choice. Very well…I’ll Duel you.”

Saruwatari headed back inside, leaving the group to follow Kaiba into the courtyard and then up to the battlement. While it made the Duel itself very visible, it was also the only area that didn’t have any of Pegasus’ men nearby, and gave them enough room to toss the Duel Disks as needed. The move to “expert” mode allowed for more cards to be put on the field, as well as for them to be moved or shifted as needed. It was a bit more complex than even Pegasus’ rules with the Duel Boxes, and felt very much like they’d been created just to allow for the type of Duel going on at the moment.

Jounouchi didn’t like how things were going either. While it was obvious that Yami and Kaiba enjoyed being on a level of competition that few others had, they were also acting like they were the only ones who had a stake in anything. And while the lives of Sugoroku Muto and Mokuba Kaiba were important, it also felt as if they’d forgotten that there were other people here to help them out.

A hand on her shoulder nearly made Jounouchi jump as she looked to see that Mai had come up, watching the Duel as Yami used the Eye of Truth card to look over Kaiba’s cards, revealing that Kaiba had one of his three Blue Eyes already out, but wasn’t using it in his main area. Yami destroyed the Lamp and Genie anyway, looking a bit worried about the placement before it was Kaiba’s turn.

“What’s up with this Duel?” she asked, looking at the new turn.

“Pegasus’ men set it up,” Jounouchi muttered, looking unhappy, “Kaiba can’t get in if Yugi goes in, and Yugi can’t go in if Kaiba does.”

“…so it’s a dick-measuring contest.”

Both Yami and Kaiba looked at Mai with a bit of annoyance as Jounouchi finally nodded. “Basically, yes.”

“Oh, this should be fun,” Mai said, looking far too happy for it to be entirely natural, and now getting Anzu, Bakura, and Honda to glare at her. “I _love_ these.”

“They have their appeal, but this one is getting on my nerves,” Jounouchi said, crossing her arms to watch. Then, upon seeing the glares from Kaiba and Yami, offered an insincere smile, “Oh, don’t mind us girls in the peanut gallery. Please, continue with your Duel to decide who gets to go into the obvious trap.”

\--

Anzu wasn’t quite sure of what she thought about Mai Kujaku. She didn’t distrust her as she had before, but she still didn’t like her. She was very obviously a bad influence for Katsuye, and that was beginning to show as the two commented on the Duel between Yami and Kaiba.

Anzu had hoped for them to at least cheer on Yami, or for Katsuye to understand that Yami was doing all he could to win. Instead, the two seemed intent on either remaining silent about what Yami or Kaiba were doing, and muttered about something to get the other one to chuckle and look overly amused.

Kaiba summoning the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was enough to worry Anzu and the others, Katsuye not bothering to speak as Mai said, “Oh, _that’s_ a new trick. I heard of it, but never actually saw one summoned. Granted, with so few Blue Eyes, it’s not surprising the kid with three of them would create it.”

She glanced at Katsuye as Kaiba gloated over the arrival and power of the dragon, whispering something to Katsuye that Anzu barely heard.

“…like his big dragon?”

“he’d like to think he had one,” Katsuye muttered back as it destroyed Yami’s monster.  Yami looked a bit upset before drawing his next card and smirking. Mai frowned and waited as Yami said it was “Kaiba, I just drew the ultimate card.”

“What?”

Yami called back the Duel Disk before placing the card and throwing it out again, the new monster appearing on the field. “Kuriboh in Attack Mode!”

Honda blinked in confusion. Bakura looked like he had no idea what was going on. Anzu pushed down the urge to bury her head in her hands.

Katsuye and Mai were both _smiling_ , as if they weren’t at all surprised by what Yami had said or even by what he was claiming. Kaiba sounded upset that he was even looking at the “trash monster”, seeing it more as Yami’s attempt to forfeit the game.

“It has the lowest attack points and is the lowest level of monsters. The deadbeat would’ve made a better choice of monster!”

Mai’s smile turned _vicious_ as Katsuye’s own disappeared, getting Anzu to shift a bit. Katsuye’s moods around Kaiba had gotten more and more erratic, and it was starting to worry her about what her friend thought about him. Kaiba had enough power and influence to really hurt Katsuye if he wanted, and Anzu was pretty sure he wouldn’t hesitate to do just that, if Katsuye or Mai bothered him anymore.

“I’ve never even seen one still in someone’s deck. If you intend on using this card to make a joke out of our battle, I’ll never forgive you!”

“He’s obviously not been playing the games _I_ have,” Mai muttered, getting Anzu to frown at her as she shifted and, with a wink at Yami, said, “Kaiba Seto…you can’t see it because you run a burn deck, because the only people you’ve ever played are rich, pretentious assholes who would never try to use such a simple, easy card…but he’s going to bring your Dragon down with that card. Mark my words, that little ‘trash’ monster is going to be your end!”

Yami smirked as he said, “Also, I activate the Multiply card. It multiplies any monster with an Attack of 500 or less. Oh…and Kuriboh has a special ability that only a person who played the card, or who went up against it, would know.”

Which appeared as Kaiba attacked, the Kuribohs exploding before returning into the field.

“D-don’t tell me these trash monsters have the ability to explode when they’re hit by an attack?!”

“That’s right. And unless you defeat them all, my Life Points will never reach zero. And now, I’ll play my second trump card,” Yami said, the confident look back on his face, “a three-card combo that will destroy the 3-headed Ultimate Dragon – Mammoth Graveyard, Fusion, and Arrow of Magical Effects.”

Anzu blinked as she heard Honda ask Katsuye, “Um…that’s bad?”

“A Living Light creature with a Dead Dark creature, Honda,” she told him, “Normally, fusions are between things that are compatible or that you found the fusion card for. Doing this means that the Ultimate Dragon is gonna start decomposing from the inside-out. It’ll lose attack points equal to the Mammoth’s per turn.”

Kaiba looked lost as Honda, Bakura, and Anzu cheered on Yami and his combination. Mai and Katsuye were silent as Kaiba shook with anger, having the dragon attack again, but to no avail. Yami smiled and drew a card, the Ultimate Dragon decaying even more as Yami skipped his turn and Kaiba attacked one more time, once more failing to get through the wall of Kuribohs.

“You won’t turn this around, Kaiba,” Yami said with a smile as Mai and Katsuye looked a bit upset about something. Kaiba appeared frozen, lost in thought at what was going on as Yami waited, looking assured of his victory.

\--

_He couldn’t move…he was frozen again, watching as everything played out. He saw the decaying Ultimate Dragon, the dark cave that he had been in, confronting his fears and mistakes. Bits of the steaming, decaying flesh were slowly dripping away, falling to the ground with a horrible sound that would’ve made him flinch if he was able to move…_

_“Nii-sama!”_

_He couldn’t take his eyes away as he saw Mokuba in the dragon, reaching out a hand and screaming for his help. But he was frozen…he’s stuck, he can’t move, he was trapped by his own fear and pride. The dragon he’d determined he would show off, the one that was better than all others, that would stomp all the weaklings…and it was being destroyed from within._

_“Nii-sama, help me!” Mokuba screamed as more of the flesh fell around him, seeming to pull him further into the decaying dragon. But he couldn’t move, he was frozen by fear and doubt and the repeat of so many failures…_

_“Mokuba!” the two voices yelled, but only his younger self raced out, attempting to get to the dragon and to Mokuba only to have the distance between them lengthen in a way that made reaching that goal impossible._

_You can’t win this game. You’ll never win against him. He shuddered at the voice, a voice he hoped to never hear again, as it rang out in the small cavern. You’re a weakling who can’t even save his own brother._

_“Nii-sama!!” Mokuba screamed once more before the dragon’s decaying body swallowed him, and the rest of it fell with a sick sound to the ground, his younger self turning back to him and glaring._

_“Why? Why didn’t you help him?!You can’t even put your life on the line? WHY DIDN’T YOU HELP HIM!?”_

He focused back on the game, seeing Yugi glaring at him but otherwise remaining silent, his turn having been forfeit as he though. He was strong enough to put his life on the line for Mokuba. He had to be, and he had to defeat Yugi if he wanted to get into the castle and save him.

Yugi attacked with one of his stronger monsters, cutting one of the heads and making him lose 500 points.

_I can give up my life for Mokuba._

“I just lost five hundred life points…so if each of these squares equals 100 life points, I move back five paces.”

Everyone was silent in horror as he did, getting right to the edge of the balcony, the implication of what would happen seeming to stop everyone from speaking, right up until Kaiba said, “I have nothing more to lose. If you win, if you hit me again, then I will die.”

“ _Stop being such a stuck-up brat! If you die, who’s going to save Mokuba?_ ”

The scream rang out as everyone turned to look at Jounouchi, at the idiot girl who’d managed to make her way into this contest. She glared him down, her hands clenched in fists and her feet planted, like she was about to fight. Yugi seemed frozen, and finally his eyes narrowed, as if settling on something.

“I’m not going to hesitate,” he finally said to Kaiba, “I _will_ do it.”

_He’s serious. He will do it. Yugi...do you truly hate me so much?_

He nearly didn’t see the deadbeat move, his own eyes locked on Yugi’s as he watched, he suddenly stiffened, and all the red drained out, his face softening and tearing up before he muttered, “stop” and fell to his knees.

The grab on his arm pulled him back onto the more solid ground as the two monsters disappeared, and the hard slap to his face was enough to at least let him focus. For one, Yugi was on the ground, hugging himself and looking afraid, as well as not looking like the other side that Kaiba normally dueled. Holding his wrist and glaring at him, her brown eyes full of anger but tears also welling in them, was the deadbeat.

“You both,” she growled out at him as the blond woman, Mai, came up to speak to Yugi quietly, “are utter, impossible _dicks._ The rules were that if you have ten Star-Chips, you get in. Did it ever occur to _either one of you numb nuts_ that one of us might have more than ten?!?”

Kaiba froze as he saw Mai hold up a closed hand, and revealed eight star chips. _they won’t give it to me...they’re not my friends._

“You expected me to believe a loser mutt like--”

Kaiba let out a cough as the deadbeat hit him, hard, in the gut, nearly sending him down but holding onto his wrist tightly before she said, “You will _never_ call me that again, you got that? I don’t care who the fuck you think you are, but _you are not calling me that again_.”

“Katsuye,” Mai’s voice stops the other girl from hitting him again, or from continuing whatever she was going to say, “I’ll take care of this. Yugi needs you.”

The hand on his wrist lets go as Mai kneels in front of him, holding out the prototype and five star chips. “It’s quite interesting. I look forward to using a finished one, when this is over.”

“You say that like you know I’ll win,” he mutters, taking it back and wincing as he sits on his knees, trying hard to not look at the deadbeat and the other Yugi, the weaker one.

“You’re willing to jump off a cliff, though I agree with Katsuye on how stupid that move was,” she helped him stand up before adding, “And you’re in this for that kid...Mokuba, right? Your brother?” He slowly nodded and she smiled. “Katsuye was really attached to him. It hurt when that bastard at the front took him.” She let out a breath. “If not you, one of us will take down Pegasus for being such a poor host, and we’ll do all we can to make sure you and your brother are safe. It’s hard...but trust that we’re fighting the same fight, and going to get through this.”


	7. Building Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba faces Pegasus in a battle for Mokuba's soul. Yugi fears the darkness that Yami shows when he tries to help people. Katsuye has an interesting dream, and Pegasus is a cheap douchebag.

Yugi is shivering as he does his best to stay in the present, to focus and not allow his other half to take over. He hears the others as they worry about him, and is grateful when Anzu and Katsuye help him stand and move away from the area and down the stairs a bit. The sun is starting to set, meaning everyone else who’d been on the island is now gone, and he vaguely recalls that Mai brought eight extra star chips, so he doesn’t have to give his away to Kaiba after that Duel and how it had almost ended.

He shuddered again and tightened his grip on Katsuye’s hand, trying to focus on the world and not on the anger and feelings of betrayal he feels from the back of his mind. Yugi wasn’t really aware of everything going on when his other self had control of his body – there was a general feel of some of what went on, and sometimes, if he tried hard enough, he could see what was going on. He knew that there’d been a tag-team Duel earlier, with Katsuye helping to defeat the two brothers in the labyrinth, and he knew that there was something going on with Bakura.

It was when facing Kaiba or others that angered his other self that Yugi felt himself in the dark, unable to do or see anything, no matter how hard he screamed or fought. He didn’t understand it, only that Kaiba had angered his other side by what he’d said to Katsuye, by how he’d acted…and that something about Kaiba made his other side not want Yugi to participate, wanted to beat him on all of his terms and no one else’s. It was a rivalry that Yugi was not allowed to be part of.

But then his other self had pushed to win, no matter what. His other self had looked at Kaiba on the edge of the battlements and hadn’t felt any remorse over what could happen. All he thought, all that echoed as Yugi fought as hard as possible to get out and stop it was the same thing, the same image and the same odd feelings.

_I can’t lose. If I lose, Sugoroku will die. If that happens, Yugi will be unhappy._

_I can’t lose. I have to save everyone from Pegasus. It’s because of me that he even targeted Yugi, that the thief is waking. I can’t let this continue._

The group ended up in the small garden near the battlements, Mai and Honda apparently having volunteered to ensure Kaiba didn’t try anything while Anzu, Katsuye, and Bakura sat next to Yugi. Bakura looked almost envious of his ability to fight his way back into control, but also looked more and more worried as Yugi fought the urge to throw up.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to mutter, still shaking and taking in gulps of air as someone, probably Anzu, rubbed his back. Kaiba and the others looked over at him as he tried hard to not cry. He was sixteen, he shouldn’t be crying! “I…I didn’t…I was afraid. I couldn’t let Kaiba die.”

“I wasn’t about to let that happen either, and I don’t even like him,” Katsuye told him, managing a small smile, “It’s ok, Yugi.”

“I’m afraid of my other self, of what he’ll do…of what would’ve happened. He…he was…” Yugi isn’t sure of what word to use, of what he can say. His other self was too determined to win, too determined to punish those that had wronged Yugi and the others. It made him afraid, too afraid of what the group was willing to put on the line to win or if they were going to lose. It also made him deathly afraid and scared that it was because of him, because he’d begun to work on the Millennium Puzzle, that such things were occurring, that all this pain and misery was his fault.

He shuddered as he felt his other side try to fight back, to once more use his fear and pain as a way to get out and push Yugi back into the dark.

“Yugi?” Anzu’s voice pulled him back, as she sat next to him while Katsuye glared over at Kaiba, as if daring him to get any closer. Mai was glancing over at the guard and then to Bandit Keith, who looked a bit annoyed by the way things turned out.

“I’ll...I’ll be ok. He...I…”

“Your other side has far too much hubris,” Kaiba spoke up, getting Yugi to look over at him as the other Duelist seemed to have reached a conclusion, “It’s something that can make or break a Duelist, at least it used to. Considering who’s gotten the chips in the end,” he glanced at Mai and Katsuye, then back to Yugi. “I’m here for my brother, not my company. But that’s tied to my brother’s well-being, so I’m going to win that back as well. I don’t know why you’re here, and I frankly don’t care.” A movement in his mind from his other self, anger rising, but Yugi pushed it down, wanting to hear Kaiba out. “You did your best to protect Mokuba when you didn’t have a reason to. I owe you for that...and I dislike ‘owing’ people anything. It’s too easy for them to try to hold it over you, or to use it against you.” Silence before Kaiba added, “I owed someone, or thought I owed them, for a very long while. I owe you for helping Mokuba, but that doesn’t make us friends, and it doesn’t mean my rivalry with your other side is negated because you are in charge. I’m here to defeat Pegasus and leave, so I can deal with the problems your other half caused me. That’s my hubris. It doesn’t excuse his.”

Mai was the first one to break the silence, saying to Kaiba. “You’d best go in, unless you want to show a united front against the bastard. He hasn’t exactly made any of our lives easier.”

Katsuye glared at Kaiba, who ignored her in favor of nodding. Yugi, swallowing and focusing on what he wanted, finally stood and did his best to stand straight. Even with the rolling emotions from his other side and the attempts to regain control, Yugi managed to focus on the here and now, to watch the guard look almost annoyed but finally move aside as Kaiba, then Mai, then Katsuye, put in their Star Chips to gain entrance. Yugi was last, walking into the interior of the castle with a feeling of dread.

**_I was the one who won those chips. What makes you think you have the right to them? What right have you to stop me from facing Pegasus? I’m the only one who can match his power, and you know that!_ **

“Yugi?” Anzu at least kept him from shuddering, and he drew in a breath before nodding, showing he was fine for the moment. He couldn’t listen to his other self, he couldn’t let it get to him or else something bad might happen again. His hand was shaking as he put the Star Chips in, Katsuye glaring down the guards with Mai waiting near Kaiba, the two almost like body guards for their friends as they went in.

Anzu stayed next to him as they walked in, and he felt the oppressive feel of the Shadows while his other side fought back, trying to regain control. Bakura, walking in front of them, looked a bit out of it, as if he was also having a problem with focusing or dealing with the spirit of the Ring. The guards and servants directed them up to a balcony where Bandit Keith waited, the spirit’s attempts to regain power intensifying as they remembered what happened to Katsuye. That she didn’t speak to him despite whatever he was saying to her in English, instead turning with the group to watch as Kaiba approached Pegasus, meant that she was going to do her best to beat him in a Duel, instead of lowering herself to his level.

**_I will make him pay for what he did to her!_ **

_She will make him pay…not you._

The spirit was silent as they looked down, Kaiba glaring at Pegasus before saying, “If you’re going to have me Duel for my brother back, and for the location of those snakes who are trying to take my company, fine, but we’re using these.”

Pegasus took it, and after a rather pitiful try, said, “I’m not too good with physical sports, you know. I just can’t use that, unless…” Pegasus smirked at Kaiba in a way that made Yugi’s skin crawl, “I’ll Duel you with that using a proxy. That said...how about I let you and your brother reunite?” He waved his hand, and from one side came Mokuba, chained to one of the guards as everyone froze.

“Mokuba!” Kaiba yelled, Yugi tightening his grip on the balcony to try to keep himself grounded. He knew that look, and his other self’s renewed attack on his mental walls was enough to paint the picture of what had happened.

Pegasus had trapped Mokuba’s soul as well.

\--

Kaiba was cautious as he sat down to the duel with Pegasus, Yugi’s earlier yell about a Dragon Capture Jar a warning on the type of Deck Pegasus might have. For a grown man, Pegasus was prone to using cards that others would consider ‘girly’ or flashy, and as the creator of Duel Monsters, there was a high probability that he was going to use never-before-seen or incredibly-rare cards to counter any of Kaiba’s attacks.

_But I have to do this. I have to save Mokuba._

The deadbeat’s own protest and obvious anger upon seeing Mokuba had not been lost on him. If what Mai Kujaku said was right, the deadbeat had cared for his brother and done her best to protect him when Pegasus had been after him. If Mokuba was right, the deadbeat was part of the few good memories he had of the orphanage. He didn’t see it, not like Mokuba did, but then Mokuba had never thought that their time in the orphanage was bad. He’d been too young to remember their parents as Seto did, and didn’t fully know the extent their family had used them for money until they were dropped off and left to fend for themselves.

For all that Gozaburo had tormented Seto, it allowed him some peace to know his brother would be cared for, during the time he was under the man’s thumb before finally fighting back. Still, the years had left him with a somewhat faded memory for the faces from before, and while the deadbeat seemed to match some of that girl’s features, there could be no real guarantee it was her.

 _Focus on the game,_ he told himself, _you have to defeat Pegasus, and if you fail...then you have to give Yugi enough ammunition for his own battle against this man._

Pegasus enjoyed playing up his childishness or letting his weaker cards ‘die’ for an advantage before pulling out his ‘big guns’. Considering how Yugi’s other side reacted to him, as well as what he’d said about Mokuba, and the Egyptian-style things that had been on Mokuba’s cell when Kaiba had attempted to free him, Kaiba had to guess that Pegasus had some sort of power.

_The question is why he’s using it like this. Even Yugi’s other side wasn’t so petty._

“Kaiba-boy, do you like cartoons?”

The silent glare said it all, it appears. Cartoons had not been part of his time anywhere, and he wasn’t about to have idle chit-chat with a man who so readily abused his power and tormented Mokuba, as well as decided to do every bit of underhanded dealing he could for his own tournament.

“Oh, I remember growing up that I always watched _Funny Rabbit_ on Saturday mornings. All those great characters, running around on tv...they were my best friends. They never betrayed me, and they can never die…so, I’ll invite you to that world, see if I can’t get a smile on that face. I play…Toon World!”

Kaiba blinked at the new card, his mind working to try to remember if Pegasus had used the card before. He doubted it – the man was known for pulling out new cards or incredibly rare ones, and if he was so obsessed with cartoons and the like, it was possible this card was just for this particular Deck.

Right now, Kaiba was a bit worried about how to play this. Dark Rabbit was, apparently, a Toon card, as it was hidden by the book and appeared fine with jumping out to take out his Battle Ox before disappearing back into the pop-up book. He couldn’t do the Virus combo, and he doubted he could do anything besides simply hope for a good card and use that.

“Oh, I forgot the best part of having Toon World on my side…all the monsters I play are toons, even the ones I get from _you_. So then, let’s play your Blue Eyes.”

Kaiba glared at Pegasus and his audacity. The man seemed to enjoy belittling and making others look like idiots whenever he could, and the actions had only made the tournaments he sponsored all the more cutthroat. And after attempting to attack the demented toon version of his Blue Eyes with one of the two left in his deck, hoping for a strategy of trusting his luck, Kaiba knew that Pegasus wasn’t about to give him a way to win. The man had stacked his deck and created a near-unbeatable card, not to mention overpowered.

_He just has me here to show off to Yugi and the others, hoping to get them to realize how bad things are. Still, I’m going to do what I can to put a dent in him, or to find a weakness in these cards. I owe it to Yugi and the others._

It wasn’t a defeatist attitude, but a realistic one, and one of the reasons why he ran a deck as powered as it was. The longer he drew out the game, especially if Pegasus ran this deck against Yugi or anyone else, the more likely it was for them to find a weakness.

 _If he has read my mind, he might have seen more of the cards._ Kaiba’s memory had always been good, a reason that Gozaburo had worked him so hard. _But I know he’ll do what he can to provoke me and end the Duel._ Kaiba glanced over at where Mokuba was standing, between two of the guards who seemed indifferent to all that Pegasus was doing. _I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, Mokuba. I’m sorry I have to place my trust in someone else’s hands…_

Kaiba played the cards he could, managing to defeat the Toon Blue-Eyes with a spell card, but failing to keep the other one, and easily falling for a copy card that killed his deck’s monsters. He only had his one trap monster left, and only if he could summon it. No matter what happened, there was no way for him to win.

_I lost…damn it. Am I destined to forever lose against those powered by those cursed items?_

“Well, Kaiba-boy, looks like I win,” Pegasus said in that damned sing-song voice of his before reaching into his pocket. “You know what the stakes I’m playing for are, don’t you? After all, I heard you had the pleasure of losing to someone twice before.” He held up a small card, the words ‘Soul Prison’ written on it. “In the game they’re playing, the losers lose everything…what is most precious to them, and their very souls.”

_No…Mokuba!_

Pain coursed through him, the type that he never felt even when facing off against Yugi’s other side at his most sadistic, and then there was nothing.

\--

“The championship starts tomorrow morning!” Pegasus announced after his men had taken the two brothers out of the arena, leaving the four finalists to stand, shaking in a combination of fear and rage. Jounouchi had seen that same desperate look on the boy from the orphanage, had seen him reach for Mokuba in much the same way.

_I would piece this all together right after he loses in such away. That bastard Pegasus…_

“It will be held in this area!” he waved his hand to the open-space arena that he’d Dueled and ridiculed Kaiba in, smiling up at them and moving the hair away from his one good eye. “Out of you four duelists, only one will have the glory of facing me in battle!”

One of the men held up two cards to them as Pegasus headed away, reminding them that they needed the special cards that had been with the invitation, or they would be disqualified.

Mai and Yugi didn’t bother to pull their own out, and Bandit Keith looked like he was sweating over what had been said. Mai glanced at Jounouchi before saying, “I hear they might feed us, at least.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing,” Bakura muttered as they walked, Jounouchi falling back to walk with Yugi, who looked pale and shaky.

“Are you…are you both…?”

“He still wants out,” Yugi muttered, not protesting the hand on his shoulder as the two stopped to talk alone. “He was…what Pegasus did made him so _angry_. Even Shadii didn’t get him this angry. He’s not talking to me at all, he’s been…it…” Yugi shook his head, as if to clear it, before shifting and pulling out the two cards. “I know why one of these cards is blank, now. And…I’m going to let him fight Pegasus. But I’m going up against the person before that.”

Jounouchi was silent a long moment before Yugi handed her the “Great Wealth” card. “I don’t know how we’ll do it, but I know we’ll beat him. I know we’ll figure out something to beat Pegasus. And I also know that you need this more than I do.”

She took the card, letting out a breath as she did. No matter what the outcome, she wasn’t going to duel Yugi or Yami in the final round. There was no point to it. All she needed was to beat either Mai or Keith.

She didn’t want to go up against Mai again, and she knew that Keith would cause problems for Yugi, mostly because Yami would want to deal with the cheating bastard. The main problem after would be dealing with everyone getting _off_ the island…Pegasus might be rich, but he had planned out his stuff so that they were at his mercy if they wanted to leave.

“Thank you,” she said, still holding his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go eat. You can hash it out with your other self afterwards.”

A bit of red flashed in his eyes before Yugi smiled and nodded, the two heading back down and to where the servants directed them into a wide spread of food, making Jounouchi’s mouth water. Honda was already digging in, as was Mai and Keith, but Anzu was looking up at something above the door in shock. When the two turned to look, they froze as well, getting Bakura to pause and look up before also freezing.

To one side was a painted portrait of Shadii.

\--

The spirit of the Ring was fuming, but let Bakura continue to stay in front as he did so, muttering about how both he and the spirit in the Puzzle should just join forces and kill that ‘upstart’. Ever since it was revealed to be the Millennium Eye that Pegasus held, and since it was revealed that Shadii might have a connection to him, the spirit had been restless, growling and pushing against Bakura’s mind. He wasn’t sure his soul was strong enough to fight against it, let alone take over again, as Yugi had.

He was silent as they sat to eat, Jounouchi having commented on the ‘cute guy’ in the portrait next to the Egyptian’s, Bakura now looking over at it with a frown. Like Pegasus, the man was apparently an American or similar, and had blond hair and bright green eyes. The smile was simple but happy, and he wore an elegant outfit that seemed to be from another era, like a Victorian or Edwardian suit. The butler had simply said that Pegasus pained the portraits himself, but wouldn’t speak more on what he knew.

 _He knows more, though…_ Bakura knew men like this Croquet man, that they were like the butlers and others that he’d met when father had taken them on trips to England and Europe, before leaving Bakura alone in Japan after his sister and mother’s deaths. If the man had been with Pegasus a long time, then he knew the stories behind them both.

_And I’m guessing the Spirit of the Ring knows the Egyptian man..._

_**Even if I did, I’m not telling you,**_ the Ring spoke to him, as it had in the maze, _ **I have my reasons, and it’s not just making your life miserable.**_

 _Yeah, I got that,_ Bakura thought, _you want the items._ _Something about them, about the way they were made, makes you want them. And something about this one…_

**_I don’t recall my past. I am a thief, that is what I know. Some part of me knows that the reason I am where I am is because of the Eye, and it knows that Shadii is behind our power returning. The man is a manipulator and a liar. He believes deeply in his idiotic ideals. Enough to ruin the lives of many…just like Pegasus has ruined the Kaiba’s lives._ **

The two were silent as Jounouchi and Miss Kujaku let out a yelp of fear, both having Millennium Eye replicas in their soup. Pegasus came on a screen to show that the letters inside would dictate who battled who before saying, “Goodnight!” and disappearing.

Of course, Croquet came in a minute later to say that they had to go to bed now, getting Jounouchi to protest the lack of food and that they’d only gotten half of the soup before being scared by that little ‘joke’. Yugi exchanged a glance with Miss Kujaku before walking over to talk to her about something before they were shown to their rooms, Miss Kujaku falling back before dropping something in the hallway and blowing them a kiss goodnight.

It’s not long after they get in that he feels the spirit stir. _What?_

**_I have some thinking to do…and I also want to see about getting the bodies to a convenient spot._ **

_…bodies?_

**_The Kaiba brothers. If we get them to a place that’s comfortable, when they wake, they won’t be so hurt or confused or at anyone’s mercy…and besides, for all that I may have moved people to toy figurines before, that was just for fun…_ **

_Putting my friends—_

**_They weren’t, but I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. And the men here all have the taint of that Eye on them, not to mention stink of greed. If ordered, they’ll throw us all into the ocean and sleep well afterwards._** Bakura was silent at the admission, supposing that a murderer would know such things, but…

_**Like I said, I’m not asking. My soul is stronger than yours, just as the one in the Puzzle is stronger than Yugi’s. I don’t know why he’s fighting Yugi and treating him with kid gloves, only that he is. I’m not going to lie to you about being your friend or even about keeping you safe. I honestly could care less about you. But I am not about to let anyone with the Millennium Eye live. That is just part of who I am.** _

Before Bakura could protest, he suddenly felt the world around him go dark, and only woke up again when he was walking the corridor, getting near two guards.

**_He’s down there, and that idiot Honda is trying to get to them. Help him out._ **

_I don’t really have a choice, now do I?_ Bakura lamented silently as he went to get the guards to leave, running into Honda who, true to the Spirit’s word, was attempting to get Mokuba and Kaiba away from their cages. Even knowing he couldn’t help that much, Bakura went along with it. He had to at least do his part to help, and hopefully that would make up for whatever else the Spirit was going to try.

\--

It’s not that Jounouchi is that paranoid, but more that putting a chair and the table in front of her door seems the best way to tell her if someone decides to come into her room. She doesn’t trust Pegasus, obviously, but mostly she doesn’t trust Keith to not decide to do something bad and then for Pegasus to just wave it away.

Comfortable that her room was safe, she moved to her own bag, digging out the last of the small bars of food and eating it, hoping that tomorrow the douchebag would at least serve them breakfast instead of something small before throwing them to the wolves. It was kinda annoying to have so little food to go on, and with a freakin’ tournament that, for all the money it was offering, was so cheap in places.

Finishing the small bar and tossing the paper, Jounouchi got ready for bed, once more annoyed at how things were going. Of course they didn’t have any good places to sleep when out in the woods, and she’d not brought anything to sleep in besides a change of clothing. With a sigh and another check on the table and chair she’d put in front of the door, she quickly got down to her shirt and panties before climbing into bed. Knowing she’s safe is enough to get her to sleep.

_The place is dark, save for a small window of light that seems to look out on the orphanage that had been by her house, years ago. She frowns as she looks out, seeing herself climbing a tree and handing the newspaper down to a younger Mokuba, his eyes huge and his hair a tangled mess._

_“It was you,” a deep voice startled her, making Katsuye turn around as the light remained but now served to illuminate the man behind her. Well, not really a man – Kaiba was the same age as her, but his voice was deep and full of wonder and curiosity as he looked at her, slowly walking up to where she stood. He looked odd, like he couldn’t believe she was there, or at least that she couldn’t believe someone was in the dark area._

_“Yeah,” she says, shifting and looking around for a place to go, but there wasn’t really anything she could see, let alone anywhere to go._

_Kaiba looks around before letting out an almost defeated sigh. “There’s nothing here. I went as far as I could to either way, and…” he looked at the window then away. “All he’s showing me is scenes of our past, of when I was with Mokuba. He didn’t even give me that after my defeat.”_

_Katsuye is silent, looking back at the window where scenes of the past played out. Right now, it was showing Seto sitting next to her, an arm around her shoulder as she cried. On a whim, she moved to touch his arm in the place they were at, startling him but not enough to move away. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”_

_“I didn’t need you to save me from Pegasus,” he tells her, voice quiet as she shifts closer to him, “On the balcony, yes, I needed that. But…not against someone when I knew the danger. If I had focused too much on just defeating him, and not on why I was there, maybe I could have done something, but--.”_

_“But even if it wasn’t Mokuba there, you couldn’t have let him be treated like a tool.” They’re close enough now that she manages to wrap him in a hug, and he doesn’t move as she holds him there. She’s tall for a girl, but then he’s also tall himself, and it places her in the perfect area to rest her head and listen to his heart._

_There was silence before Kaiba finally moved, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him, the shift making her look up just before he moved to kiss her, their lips barely touching before he started to bend and deepen it when—_

The sound of a sudden, loud alarm as she cursed, wincing as the alarm continued to ring through the mansion-castle-thing, causing Jounouchi to let out a small string of curses in English when she saw the sun only starting to rise. “Bastard would wake us up this early.”

Pushing the dream from her mind and feeling like a cold was coming on from all the bullshit that Pegasus was pulling for this tournament, Jounouchi slowly got up and pulled out the outfit that she’d decided on for the final day, or at least the only real change of clothing she had. The time in the labyrinth and after Keith had kidnapped her meant her jeans were too messy to really consider wearing, at least if she wanted to not look like she’d just stepped out of the woods and into the mansion-castle that Pegasus had.

And she did want to look good, wanted to show that not only did the creepy asshole have two women in the competition, but that they could and would hold their own. It’s also just the fact that she’d had few options, and while she enjoyed dressing and looking like a boy to avoid attention, she also wanted to look a little more feminine for this last part of the competition.

She wasn’t in this to beat Pegasus, or for the title of first or second place…she was here for the prize money so her sister could see again. She was here for Shizuka, proving herself as a Duelist was just a bonus prize, and helping Yugi through a very bad few days was the other.

Learning that Kaiba was, in fact, that Seto kid who’d been her first kiss was unexpected and she wasn’t going to think about that until later. _Much later._

\--

Yugi is hoping for a good night’s sleep, and despite the angry fuming from the spirit from earlier, who still fights for control. The image of Shadii on the wall has only gotten him more enraged, but also quieted as he appears to be considering what’s going on and what to do.

It’s not surprising that, even putting the Puzzle on the nightstand and falling into bed for a few hours, that he finds himself in the familiar half-space between his mind and the spirit’s. He can’t be sure about what is going on or what the spirit wants to stay, he only knows that his own fears have manifested in darker spots in his soul, and that the spirit opens the door to look at him but doesn’t move further into the area, instead waiting.

“I’m not apologizing for stopping the fight,” Yugi says, shifting under the glare, “I…I couldn’t let Kaiba die. I couldn’t allow that. Just like I can’t allow you to face off against Mai,” he noticed the shift that the spirit gave before hastening to continue, “You’re angry at Pegasus, at Shadii, at how they’ve been abusing the power of the Shadows. I’m angry too, but…I can step back. I get you want to get to Pegasus quickly, but it’s not going to work if you just forget about everyone else, about how everyone else feels.”

Yami was silent, looking into the dark room that he often stayed in as Yugi shifted, waiting for the answer. He finally shifts and looks at Yugi, his red eyes understanding and hurt.

“I am...proud, as Kaiba said. It was my fight, and you interfered. I have been doing my best to help you and Katsuye, to ensure that you both aren’t harmed, but, at times...I seem to find myself making the wrong choices. It’s difficult, learning what I can do to help and what I can’t.” He looked down. “I _must_ be the one who faces Pegasus. I fought Kaiba not just because of what he said to Katsuye, but also to try and keep him from that fate. I see now that there was little chance of that - for all that we dislike each other, he will not back down if it is his livelihood and the livelihood of his brother at stake.” He lets out a breath. “I trust that you can defeat Mai. I trust that Katsuye can defeat Keith, and I know she will not want to go up against Pegasus or us...” The spirit looked away, back into the darkness of his room. “But at the same time, it’s because of my presence that you are in danger, because of me that Pegasus hurt your grandfather, as well as Mokuba and Kaiba. It is my duty to defeat him, and staying back, simply sitting and watching you go into danger…I _cannot_ allow that to continue.”

Yugi swallowed, and finally straightened, glaring at the spirit who’d taken residence in his body and who had used him to hurt others. “You’re angry because it’s what you would have done, if I hadn’t been trying to balance you out!” The spirit started at Yugi’s anger, his eyes growing wide in surprise as Yugi pushed on, “You didn’t want what was best for me, in the beginning. You wanted what was best for you. You scared me almost every day…you _killed_ people! It was only when I started to fight back and stand up for myself that you even _tried_ to care!” The spirit is still too surprised to show anger, though the shadows to one side are shifting almost angrily. Yugi didn’t allow himself to be scared, instead pushing on, “It’s my fault as well that this is happening. I’m the one who decided to work on the Puzzle, and I’m the one who continued it despite all the warnings! It’s just as much my fault as yours, and you need to stop thinking that you’re the one who has to fix everything, because you’re not _fixing_ it, you’re making it _worse_!”

“He will use the Shadows during our battle!” Yami yelled back, standing up and glaring down at Yugi, “He’ll do _worse_ than Shadii did when we faced him at the museum, worse than that spirit in the Ring. You were cared for when you faced the Dragons, but these will do all they can to destroy you!”

“You make it sound like I don’t get that! The Ring nearly _did_ kill us, remember? And I felt the pressure that the Shadows would put on me when we faced Shadii and you decided to wait until the last second! Stop treating me like I don’t understand the stakes, like I can’t handle the same fights that you can!”

Yami’s glare turned almost fearful as he yelled back, “It’s not like that! I can’t lose you to the Shadows, not when they're so angry right now, not when Pegasus is using them so forcefully to bring so much pain. Kaiba’s soul was _forcibly removed_ , and Mokuba’s soul possibly was as well. He did the same thing to your grandfather. I will _not_ watch him do the same thing to you!” Yami looked away, almost shifting into his own room as Yugi looked at him, confused. “I won’t stand by and watch that again.”

“…grandpa was…he…”

Yami looked away and finally said, “I hid that from you, hoping to spare you from that pain. What I do, the punishments I give…they’re illusions, or act on a person’s subconscious impulses and fears. Out of that, they either die on their own, or, like Kaiba, begin to change. I don’t take out their souls. I don’t change them in any way beyond touching on what is already within them. What Shadii and Pegasus are doing…to some degree what the spirit of the Ring was doing…it causes the soul to fray, to slowly die under the pressure, and for the Shadows to become violent.”

Yugi swallows, trying to understand what Yami had told him, as well as the implications of it. He’d seen Kaiba’s pained expression, and knew how painful it was to be taken out of your body. If that was what Pegasus was doing, what he had planned for them…

“He’s not going to go after us when we face off against Mai,” Yugi finally says, looking back at Yami as he continued to avoid gazing at Yugi, “Let me face her, and you’ll be rested and able to face Pegasus. But…please, let me help. I understand the dangers that we’re going into. I want to help. Please.”

Yami is silent a moment longer before he says, “I won’t stop you from dueling Mai…but I will face down Pegasus. If anything were to happen…” the shadows only hide his face, but Yugi could tell that the thought itself was painful. Yami couldn’t lose, because that could mean that he’d lose Yugi and the others. Beyond his pride and wish to protect them, to fight those who hurt others, Yami couldn’t take the loss.

“Thank you,” Yugi finally said before he was pulled awake by the loud sound of a bell somewhere, blinking as he saw the sun starting to rise out of his window. He yawned, hardly feeling rested, and quickly got dressed into the clothing he’d been wearing from yesterday. On the upside, they were still clean, and on top of that, they were…comfortable. Yes, some of it was part of the school uniform, but other parts – a dark, sleeveless shirt underneath, a few chains – all made him feel like…himself, like he was going in to face everyone not just as his other side, but also as himself.

There’s a knock on the door and he smiles when he sees Anzu there, wondering where Honda and Bakura are as she looks around worriedly for them. Jounouchi’s voice interrupts them as she comes out of her room. “They’re probably going off to rescue the Kaibas. Honda’s very gun-ho about that type of stuff, and…” she stops as there’s a whistle from Mai, who also just came out, and Jounouchi glares at them all. “WHAT?”

Jounouchi is dressed in a white blouse with short sleeves and a collar that dipped only slightly between where her neck met her shoulders, a variety of colorful stitches and designs that, from experience, Yugi knows she can do on her own, dotting the collar, shoulders, and bottom of the shirt. She’s wearing a darker green jacket that is opened and has fewer bits of embroidery, mostly along the cuffs instead of anywhere else. Her skirt, a blue-green one that came to just below her knees and had on beadwork instead of the embroidery but also had the similar symbols and like, was the last part of the changed outfit, as her sneakers, still dirty from the days out camping, completed the outfit. 

“Where was _that_ hiding?” Mai asked, getting Jounouchi to turn bright red.

“I’m not going _camping_ on an island full of _boys_ in a dress. And I like it too much to let it get hurt, like my _last pair of stuff_ did,” she glared at Keith as he walked out and gave her a smirk, one that Mai glared at before going over to give Jounouchi a hug right before she said, “Where _did_ you get this blouse, dear, it’s _lovely_!”

Jounouchi mumbled something as Yugi slowly walked up, giving her a shy smile as he did. She looked…pretty, and it was nice to see her like that. “You look good, Katsuye.”

She rolled her eyes. “If I hadn’t messed up the jeans I’d be wearing those instead,” she muttered, the group walking to the main area as the guards came to direct them there. She handed over a nutrition bar and quickly ate her own, looking annoyed. “And I want to remind anyone else watching that there’re two girls in this competition.”

Yugi smiled after getting the food and also ate it quickly, shifting a bit before he said, “You know…I don’t mind. I mean, if you--.”

“Me being girly is my choice,” she told him, “and I don’t always like it. But…I’m starting to like it on my own terms.”

He smiled at her, glad that she was becoming more comfortable, before she said, “You seem to be finding your own outfits too.”

He blushed. “I guess.” He showed off the bracelet she’d made for him, getting her to smile a bit. “I’m beginning to think of things on my own terms as well.”

The two managed a smile as they walked in to see that, instead of breakfast, there was the setting for the Duels to begin.

“oh…joy,” Jounouchi muttered as Mai pulled out her own snack bar and quickly ate it. “And here I thought the bastard couldn’t get any less stingy and dickish.”


	8. Duelist Kingdom Semi-Finals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai and Yugi face off while Keith goes up against Katsuye. The battle is on for Yugi to reach the finals and finally face Pegasus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: homophobic language, misogynistic language,

Mai had to agree that the whole problem with the competition was that it was very obviously something from a _spy movie_ or something equally idiotic. She’d had enough spy stuff during her time in Vegas, and half of that was based around the Mafia or tax-evasion or something else, and very little of it was actually part of her daily chores. At least there, the facts were simple – there was enough money for a huge amount of corruption, and also enough money that said corruption wasn’t really _needed_. You win big, the house was going to pay and it was going to pay you _well_. You’re a big time person with a ton of money already, you were going to get anything you wanted. That was the point of the whole ‘happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ thing. It was glitz and glamour and tinsel, real enough to have a great deal of fun and fake enough to show the paint jobs.

And for a man who’s father and who’s boyfriend’s father were in big on casinos on the damned _strip_ , Pegasus seemed to have forgotten that glitz and glamour part, and gone straight for the old-style ‘shallow grave in the desert and kneecaps in the back’. Seriously, when did his style become so out-dated?

She frowned when she saw that it was Yugi…well, she didn’t quite get it, but basically that it was the Yugi who was very young and wide-eyed and who’d fought back against his more aggressive self that stood next to her in the stage, Jounouchi and Keith in the other box and glaring each other down. He gave her a smile as they put their cards down to be shuffled. “It’s nothing against you, Mai, but…um…”

“I either get the one who’ll take me seriously, or the one who wants to railroad everyone,” she guessed, getting Yugi to blush before he nodded. She smiled back at him. “I’ll take serious any day, then.”

He smiled back at her, looking far too young and innocent, but obviously ready to face her in serious competition. In a way, that was better than just being overlooked.

She had to consider that the Duel was, if anything, better than she could’ve expected. Instead of trying to be aggressive, like his counter-part was, Yugi was calculating, trying to feel out her own strategy while figuring his out slowly but surely. She always enjoyed these battles – it was part of what had made the battle against Katusye, and later watching her battle against Ryuzaki, all the more fun.

Aggressive men were always hiding something, usually their weaknesses or inabilities to focus. Yugi, despite how others might see him, wasn’t that weak. He understood that he wasn’t facing Pegasus, and that ultimately, Mai wasn’t just some pushover. Even if they’d seen her face off once against Katsuye, that didn’t make it easy to figure out what her Deck or personality was like.

She liked this side of Yugi, and hoped his other side would _take a hint_ and not just try to plow though. The continued presence of Pegasus above them, watching, was annoying at best, but also made it worrying to deal with. After all, that meant that the bastard was going to be watching them and their strategies, and if that mind-reading thing was true (which she guessed from how he’d dealt with Kaiba), then he was just being a cheat and a bastard about it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mai saw Keith give Katsuye a look like he was going to do various inappropriate things to her, and she knew it was more likely because Katsuye insulted his manhood, rather than what she was wearing. She noticed that Yugi seemed to notice as well, if the brief flash of red in his eyes was any indication. He drew in a breath and looked back at her. “No holding back.”

“Of course not,” she told him with a smile as she played Harpie Lady and a face-down card, “Katsuye can hold her own against that punk.”

Yugi’s smile was completely worth it as he played Gaia and attacked her Harpie, blinking when Mirror Wall went up. He apparently knew enough about the trap card to not have his next one attack, instead remain where it was and keep it’s attack points from being halved again. Some part of her knew that his other side would’ve just kept trying to bulldoze his way through her to get to Pegasus, and that wasn’t what they needed to focus on.

_I think this might actually be the best Duel I’ve had in ages._

\--

Keith knows what he wants and what he needs to do to get at the bastard who ruined his life. He’d wanted to go after the girl and her little card, but that bottle-blond whore was stupid enough to drop her card, so he’d at least been able to rest well before their summons to the main event.

So facing off against the little bimbo who’d defeated his puppets was annoying but he wasn’t surprised – both had one card and she seemed ready to show herself off.

_If I didn’t know that Pegasus was a damned fag, I’d have told her save it - anyone would go for the bitch willing to show off her boobs over a tomgirl. Though I’d be willing to teach her a thing or two._

“Well, little girl is up for playing. Just so you know...Hell is waiting for you,” Keith said, knowing the dumb broad wouldn’t understand a word of his English.

“That supposed to scare me?” the girl growled back in English, setting her cards down after they were shuffled. “I’ll just defeat you in Hell.”

He let himself be surprised...how the hell did this stupid Asian chick know any English? Still, he snorted before saying, “Please. I’m the former U.S champion!”

“‘Former’? All I see is a washout who doesn’t know how to shave...or play fair,” she told him smirking even as he played his first card.

The two battles going on didn’t allow him to see what was going on with the bottle-blond or the shrimp that Pegasus seemed to have such an eye on, not after a few turns where he noticed that the girl he was stuck with seemed to be testing his Machine Deck. It wasn’t much of one - she was a newbie and nowhere near his skill or level. Even if she was the other female in this tournament (unless you counted the fag Pegasus), he was here to deal with the man that got him to be a laughing stock and taken his glory.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from having to deal with this bitch of a girl. She had strong enough warriors to deal with most of his machines when they weren’t using any magical abilities, and her damned traps and spell cards had only reminded him more and more of the humiliation he’d been dealt before. He had faced Pegasus because he was the creator of Duel Monsters...he didn’t need to take this crap from some Asian bitch that needed to only know enough English to ask ‘how much’ and make porn so derogatory it’s almost a boner-killer. She’s taking out his army like it’s nothing and doesn’t even bother to look proud of herself, just seems to be all business about it, like she’s _above_ him or something!

_Like this bitch ever had to deal with that sort of humiliation, like she’s ever had to risk her own life to crawl out of Hell! When I’m done with her, I’m gonna take down her little shrimp companion, and pay Pegasus back for all the pain and suffering he’s caused me!_

“You’d best start payin’ attention,” he told her with a chuckle, making a finger-gun and pointing it at his own head. “This is Hell, and the only way out is to risk your life and crawl out.”

Her dark eyes flashed with a sort of dangerous emotion, and she snorted. “What, like you risked those kids you conned into Dueling me before? Or do you just like to hear yourself talk? Big man who can’t let go of his status... _former_ champion.” His growl got her to smile a bit. “I’ve faced down bigger and badder than you, so don’t come after me with this crap. You don’t get to talk tough until you beat me.”

Keith laughed as he played his card, Barrel Dragon, with a smirk. “You ever play Russian Roulette, little girl? My dragon’s got three heads, and three chances to take you down. My kinda odds.”

She didn’t even flinch as her two monsters were taken down, the final head having not fired, and she drew a card before smirking. “Gamble for a gamble. I play Time Wizard, and activate Time Roulette.”

\--

Yugi smiled as he activated the Black Luster Ritual, summoning the Black Luster Soldier to deal with Mai and her Harpies. She gasped as he cut through the Pet Dragon, the strongest monster on her side, and he waited as she drew her next card and looked at it, letting out a sigh. “Looks like you win, Yugi.”

He nodded, reaching over to shake her hand. “Thanks. It was a great game! I was really worried for a bit.”

She chuckled as they got their cards and headed back out. “Well, glad I could make you worry. I suppose next time, I’ll have to face that ‘other’ you I saw...it’s only fair.”

He nodded, though he didn’t smile so much. While his other side had been silent throughout the game, now he stirred as they waited for Katsuye to finish, the Red Eyes Black Dragon roaring at the Slot Machine monster that Keith had on his side. Anzu stood nearby, shifting and looking worried that she was still alone - Honda and Bakura hadn’t reappeared yet with Mokuba or Kaiba.

Katsuye’s card combo is enough to win the Duel and secure her place in the finals.

Though before she’d looked cool and collected, the minute her win was announced, Katsuye jumped out of her seat with a yell of joy, smiling for one of the first times since they started the Duels. She turned back to the group with a huge smile and proud look on her face, ignoring Keith as he limps away, looking almost shell-shocked at having lost.

_Let me in._

Yugi flinches and Katsuye frowns, her joy gone before Yami explains to Yugi, _If you two Duel, it will allow Pegasus to see more of the Deck. If I appear, he’ll face me no matter what. He doesn’t see you..._ Yami sounded angry at that, finally saying, _I see now that I wouldn’t have looked at Mai. I could have easily lost, but you did not. You kept your resolve…mou hitori no boku…Ask Katsuye to hand over the card, to forfeit the match. I’ll take over and deal with Pegasus._

**_You still have no idea how to handle the Millennium Eye!_ **

_…no, but I must try._

Yugi glanced at Katsuye, considering what he knew of her reasons for wanting just second place, considering what they knew of the Millennium Eye, and finally said, “We have a plan, Katsuye. But we have to fight Pegasus…and Yami has to do that.”

She still looks at him, searching, before nodding. “You know what’s at stake, not just with Kaiba and his brother. He’d better not mess this up.” She smiled again, pulling him into a hug, before handing over the card.

As he turned, Yami took over, but unlike other times, Yugi found himself watching from his mind, like he was watching from a balcony, and saw Pegasus’ smirk before he said, “Alright, Yugi-boy, I take your challenge. Let the Final Duel begin!”

\--

Pegasus is not surprised when they run into Keith in the hallway, the man who’d sunk so long brandishing a knife and demanding the prize money. The brief flash of all the money he _had_ earned from illegal gambling and then lost on drink and drugs made him chuckle. “To see the old ‘prize bandit’ like this…no wonder you lost so badly to a little girl…”

“Shut up, you fucking fag! Give me the prize before you get hurt!”

He ignored the insult – father had been _more_ crass with him after he’d become the life-partner to Cyndia’s brother then to Cyndia herself – and instead continued, “I’m _glad_ we had this time to chat. According to Kingdom Regulations, you’re to be punished.” He didn’t even bother to glare at the knife-wielding man before him. Keith had demanded a Duel, and when he lost to a child, he’d reacted as one.

_They demand a sacrifice to bring him back…I will have him back, no matter who I have to kill to do it._

Pegasus waved his hand, as if swatting a fly, before sending the Shadows at Keith. He doesn’t bother to watch as they turn his hand into a gun, the body falling down after killing himself, or how the Shadows seem restless and screaming for more blood.

_My wish was to see him again. I will walk whatever path I must, in order for that dream to be fulfilled._

_Wait for me, Aiden my love, my fire. I’ll have the means to bring you back shortly._


	9. Shadow of a Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pegasus and Yami Duel for the souls of those Pegasus had trapped, Pegasus' past is revealed, and Kaiba realizes something about Jounouchi that he didn't want to believe before.

Part 9: Shadow of a Doubt

They had managed to get Mokuba back, and put him in Katsuye’s room for now, but neither Honda nor Bakura could find out where Kaiba’s body was. It made Honda worried, hoping that Pegasus hasn’t put it somewhere they can’t reach, or destroyed it for any reason. Bakura seems to think that wouldn’t happen, but his eyes seem darker at the mention of destroying a body or even hurting someone like that.

“It’s probably in another tower, or well-guarded. We weren’t very quiet in our rescue,” Bakura points out, looking determined as they reach the spot where Mai, Jounouchi, and Anzu have gone to, a balcony area to watch the big duel between Pegasus and Yugi. Honda is surprised enough at the fact Jounouchi is wearing a skirt to not comment on it too quickly, getting Anzu to ask about Mokuba and Kaiba.

They quickly tell them about their luck with finding Mokuba but the lack of luck with finding Kaiba, getting Jounouchi to shift as Mai looks around, seemingly worried about something. Anzu glances at her long enough for the older woman to say, “Where’d Keith go to?”

The group looks around and Jounouchi shifts before shaking her head, looking almost annoyed. “Why should we care?”

“He wasn’t known for being the nicest person _before_ Pegasus made him a laughing stock,” Mai pointed out, “and half of that laughing was because Keith took it so _seriously_ when it was obvious the game was going more towards kids instead of adults. Not a lot of people were happy at how things went down, especially not with how Pegasus appeared to have cheated when he and Keith never met, and he didn’t know which Deck Keith was using.” Mai looked back at the two Duelists facing each other, worry obvious. “It’s not just about how Keith acted either. Pegasus has been getting more and more ruthless. And considering what’s been going on...I’m worried.”

Anzu shifted and put one arm up, gripping her bicep as Jounouchi leaned forward, as if trying to listen into what Pegasus and Yugi were saying. Bakura didn’t seem too worried, though he also was shifting almost restlessly, making Honda worried. Bakura had been acting weird all night - at some points, he’d acted like his normal self, but at other times, he’d just been...different. it was similar to how Yugi could sometimes be with his other self, and it made Honda wonder about the white-haired boy or what they’d seen two nights ago, when the Millennium Ring had begun to “resonate” or something with the two other items in the area.

Even though he was still their friend and wanted to be around, Honda knew that he wasn’t really going to fully ‘get’ what was going on with Yugi or the others. In some ways, he was grateful - considering how oddly Bakura and Yugi acted, as well as how ruthless they could be, he was fine with just being left out of things. On the other hand, he knew that Anzu and Jounouchi were still deep into this, and that thought made some part of him want to tell them to stay out of it.

The rest of him had to remind that part that Jounouchi and Anzu could, and would, kick his ass in various ways and that his sister would probably have no sympathy for him if said ass-kicking occurred. SHe’d dealt with enough guys during her time as a female gang member to know how to handle herself, and Jounouchi was still learning all the special moves from Layla, which only made her scarier.

Honda looked down at the game that would start as soon as the two stopped glaring at each other. Pegasus was smirking and looking far too calm for someone who was basically a soul-stealing jackass, and Yugi was standing tall, glaring him down as if that would make him change his ways.

“So, you’ve made it up to challenge the king, Yugi-boy. I’m impressed. At stake, of course, is the soul of your grandfather...and I suppose you know about the Honor of the King’s Left.”

“If I lose, my soul goes into that card...and it’s not just for Sugoroku Muto’s soul. I demand you release the other souls as well.”

Pegasus tilted his head, as if confused. “You want me to release the soul of Kaiba-boy and his little brother too? Here I thought you were his rival…”

“You _will_ agree to this, Pegasus,” Yugi said, his tone of voice and anger showing, “because win or lose, I will make your life miserable if you try anything and don’t honor our agreement.”

The American straightened, then smiled and shrugged, as if that threat hadn’t been all that serious. “I suppose I can release a few extra...if you win. That will be quite a feat.”

Both Mai and Jounouchi frowned, the rest looking at them as Mai whispered, “Pegasus is the creator of Duel Monsters...meaning he can have new or ultra rare cards that can defeat anything Yugi throws at him. Like what he did with Kaiba.”

Jounouchi’s features darkened at the mention and Honda shifted, wondering what was up with her. He guessed it was partly that Mokuba had saved her dad, or even that Mokuba was all for running to her or Kaiba if he was scared. Considering the bullshit that Kaiba had pulled to show off that new system, not just with her but also with Yugi, Honda was worried that his sob-stories about his past had gotten to Jounouchi.

“Well then, let’s not stall any longer, Yugi-boy. We all have things to do.” Pegasus’ voice cut through Honda’s thoughts as everyone looked back to where the Duel was starting, the American smirking as they drew their cards, “Let’s begin.”

\--

Yami is careful against Pegasus, knowing that underestimating the man. Watching what had happened to Kaiba had only reinforced Yugi and Yami’s determination to defeat the man and put things right.

Yami is, naturally, annoyed that Pegasus seems to believe his first attack was simply a ‘wasted turn’, saying almost sagely about how the card came could end because of little mistakes made along the way.

“Listen well, Yugi-boy. I _never_ make mistakes.”

Yami is silent at that, disliking the absolute confidence Pegasus had in his power and ability to win. Though he was arrogant in his own right, Yami knew better than to believe he would always win. It was why he gave people an out when playing Shadow Games against them, and why, even when his punishments were viewed as harsh, justified his actions by considering all the others he had saved from humiliation and hurt. Yugi might dislike it, and it might make him and Jounouchi not quite friends, but he knew that he had to risk the same things if he was going to play fair and get the same from the Shadows.

_The Puzzle can only protect so much...I know the Deck and what few combos I can make, but not well enough for him to see every card. He only knows the ones I hold now, and what I might be able to do with them._

Yami glared at Pegasus after drawing his card, feeling the weight of his own usage of the Eye and the Shadows. Like Shadii’s use, they were angry and far too dangerous, far too dark, for his liking. They also whispered a word, like a name, over and over again, and some odd promise of returning something, of a wish granted.

Yami didn’t look at the card he’d drawn, save briefly, but he knew that Pegasus already knew his hand and possible strategies. Even clearing his mind wasn’t going to work - there was only so much that he could do without starting a Shadow Game, and the biting Shadows from the Eye were not something he wanted Yugi to face. He would rather face down Shadii and all the guardians of Death before he pulled Yugi into such a dangerous game.

_But Pegasus is far too confident...I have to focus on that, and not on how tipped the game already is in his favor._

It’s not going to be easy, and getting any sort of attack on Pegasus would probably cost him more than he got.

 _I have lives on the line...not my own, but that of Yugi’s grandfather, and Kaiba and his brother. I_ can’t _lose._

\--

Yugi isn’t sure if his plan will work, but he has to try it. He can feel his other side’s fear and anxiety over the plan, over what Pegasus might do in order to punish them for somehow overcoming his abilities.

Yugi doesn’t care. He’ll take the danger, like he did with Shadii, if it means he might get his grandfather back and could save the Kaiba brothers. Learning what Pegasus had done to their souls, realizing the danger his friends were in if they lost, had only spurred on his determination.

“You can’t hide me away from this, and you can’t take all of this burden yourself,” Yugi tells his other side, angry at the fear he feels and stubbornness setting in, “We’ll all be in danger no matter what you do! I have to show that I can do this...and this is the only way we can stop Pegasus. If he doesn’t know what we set on the table, if he doesn’t know what the strategy is, we have a chance of defeating Toon World and defeating him. Please...you’re here to protect my friends and family...let me protect them too.”

He faces Pegasus after the failed attempt at the Dark Magician, glaring him down with all his might. He’s not as regal or powerful as his other side, but he knows that, sometimes, the things that the Millennium Puzzle controls will come to his defense.

Right now, all he has is the ability to move between minds, to hide when he feels Pegasus’ gaze on him, and to let his other self smirk confidently at Pegasus after the failed attempt to read his mind.

_If you taunt him, I swear I’m going to let Katsuye hurt you._

**_Let me have a bit of fun._ **

_And if we keep it up, he might put us_ both _in a card._ The point is enough to silence his other side from saying too much about their strategy...but he does goad Pegasus into attacking, mocking him by saying, “My, Pegasus, you’re suddenly very shy...can’t you even trust your own intuition, or have you become too reliant on the Eye to actually _play_ a game?”

Pegasus glared at them with his good eye, finally letting out a small chuckle, as if he wasn’t rising to the bait. “You’re right...it has been a while. I call on Toon Summoned Skull, attack the middle hat!”

The Magician wasn’t there, and Yami took a moment to smirk. “I was right about you, Pegasus. You have lost your ability to play a game. Every game can be won or lost based on the player’s experience and judgement, the ability to use your instincts. You’ve relied too long on the Millennium Eye and on the Shadows...you’ve lost that instinct, and thus your confidence.” He leveled a glare at Pegasus. “I will not make the same mistakes you have made, by declaring I can’t make mistakes, or by simply cheating to gain what I think I should be given. I have already made those mistakes, and I have learned from them and gained new confidence. You obviously have not.” He considered, Yugi feeling him shift through memories of what toons are, of what Pegasus had said to Kaiba. “To be friends with the imaginary and false is to set yourself up for failure. I believe in my aibou.”

Yugi doesn’t let what he says affect him, instead playing a new card and letting Yami take control before Pegasus can read his mind, trying hard to keep his focus on the game. He knows that Yami has goaded Pegasus into acting in a way that will let the two cards he put down help even the playing field, but he also knows this is a one-shot deal. Pegasus will probably be angry enough to take things into a Shadow Game, and even with the brief brush he had while facing Shadii, Yugi can guess that it will ultimately be painful to keep up their strategy.

_It’s also the only way we can win…_

The minute Pegasus played the card Magic Neutralizing Force, his other side panicking, he quickly took over as Toon Summoned Skull began to attack, throwing the force back at Toon World, and using the Trap Card he’d placed, Mirror Force, to take out Pegasus’ army of toons. Yugi couldn’t help a smile as the last of them disappeared, glad that their plan had worked and that he’d been able to find a way to fight Pegasus’ powers that came from the Millennium Item, but also get rid of the spell that had defeated Kaiba.

As the imaginary smoke cleared, he saw Pegasus go from surprised and angry to suddenly cold, a smile on his face that Yugi didn’t like, his other self suddenly sounding panicked in the back of his mind.

**_Yugi, give me control!_ **

“Well…no _wonder_ you possess a Millennium Item. I suppose I shouldn’t have played around so much, and just Dueled you with the power and respect you deserve.”

Yugi stayed put, not so much because he was stubborn, but because he felt he _had_ to face Pegasus down. Yami was always the one taking hits, and Yugi…

_If I am your aibou…if I am your partner…let me face this as you would._

**_Yugi…_ **

“Yugi-boy…from here on, it isn’t just a battle between Duelists. Its’ a battle between those who have been _chosen_ by the Millennium Items,” Pegaus smiled darkly at him as the darkness rose around them, Yugi suddenly feeling a pressure on him, like the one he’d felt when he’d managed to speak during Shadii’s game, only it was darker, a strange dark promise that he couldn’t describe.

“From here on…it’s a _Shadow Game._ ”

\--

“I got the idea for Duel Monsters years ago, while traveling to Egypt and looking into the occult. It was said that magicians in the past could summon monster or whoever to do their bidding. Tales of this from Egypt and elsewhere caused quite a stir. After I gained control of the Shadows myself, I saw a need to introduce this to the public. But for now,” Pegasus ended his talk with a smirk, “the Game truly begins. It’s the strength of our souls that let us summon our monsters now, and protects us from harm. Now then, let the fight begin!”

Yugi’s fear went up as darkness began to surround them, Yami quickly taking his place but allowing him to watch the proceedings once more. Yugi was shivering from the brief touch with darkness that was so different from the others. At least with Shadii’s, his power had fueled all the illusions and connections that he thought he’d seen, but with Pegasus, he was going to force Yugi into using the Shadows as well, not just for protection but also to manifest the monsters.

**_This is dangerous, Yugi. You have to let me face it!_ **

_He’ll still use the Millennium Eye to read your mind. We have to keep this up together. I_ can _do this!_ Yugi argued back, sounding angry at being pushed aside so easily. _I can do this. You need my help, and I’m not going to just hide. If Pegasus doesn’t try to challenge me in a Shadow Game, someone else might. I have to be ready. Please. Let me help._

Yami knew that he couldn’t hold Yugi back for long. His partner was far too persistent, and what he said had a great deal of truth to it. Even if he allowed Pegasus to take his own soul instead of Yugi’s, there was no guarantee that he would simply stop at that. Keith’s absence from the group above, and the chilling feel of the Shadows as they surrounded them, told him all he needed to know.

**_We must be careful. Our soul’s strength is what is keeping the monsters here, instead of the technology from before. It’s easy to have your strength and will be sapped._ **

Yugi gave a mental nod as Pegasus called forth a monster called the Dark Eyes Illusionist, one that had zero attack or defense points. Yami frowned at the monster, disliking the life that Pegasus was pouring into it, or where some of that power might be coming from.

There was no way to know how many other souls were trapped by the Millennium Eye, and something in the back of his mind said that the Eye was even more dangerous than the Ring, or at least it created less stability in a person’s soul. Either way, Pegasus was using a great deal of power, apparently secure in the knowledge that he could do such a thing and not have any backlash. It wasn’t a good strategy - even in his days of taking down those who he felt needed to be defeated or taught a dark lesson, he had never pushed the Shadows to such a limit.

**_Whoever gave Pegasus the Millennium Eye taught him poorly in treating the Shadows...I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Shadii and his group._ **

Yami played one other monster and ended his turn, Yugi moving forward to take over as Yami attempted to figure out what to do. He had to be careful, with their life points so low and with the Shadows as dark as they were for this game. Either side could easily end up dead.

\--

The moment Yugi took control, he had to take in a halted breath, trying hard to not shiver with the pain he felt. Everything _hurt_ , his heart feeling like it was thundering in his chest and his mind was being squeezed in a vice. This was far worse than the brief moments he’d pushed his other self aside to yell out the answer to Shadii, worse than anything he’d faced before. He could _feel_ the monsters, the Dragon angry at the lack of movement and the Dark Magician echoing the same worry that his other self had gone through, when the Shadows first crept in.

_It hurts...it hurts...no, focus…_

**_Aibou!_ **

_I have to...to focus, so I can...so…_

He was pushed away just after Pegasus ended his turn, Yami attacking almost savagely while the Dragon seemed to scream, echoing Yami’s anger at Pegasus and the fear of what would happen. Yugi tried to stop him, the relief from pressure letting him realize how dangerous it was to attack the monster and to rush in. _No, that’s what he wants!_

Too late, the Illusionist had already used it’s ability to paralyze the Dragon, his other side freezing himself as the magic hit his own will hard, Pegasus taking the time to summon a Ritual Monster called Relinquished.

“It’s the ultimate sacrifice monster. Here, let me show you how it works,” Pegasus smirked as his monster pulled the Cursed Dragon in, devouring it as Yami commanded the Dark Magician to try to attack the monster. Instead, a strange shield came up over the monster, Cursed Dragon inside of it as the two winced with the pain that shot through them from the attack.

“It takes any monster from the field and uses it as a shield. Of course, once that happens, the player affected is the one who’s monster is being used, not the owner.”

Yami glared Pegasus down, trying to think through a strategy right before he felt Yugi move, pushing him away. **_Aibou, don’t!_**

_You need time to think! I can do this! I want to fight, I want to help!_

**_You’re still recovering!_ **

_You need time to think up a strategy. I can get that for you._ Please, _let me do this! Stop fighting me and let me fight!_

Yami slowly backed off, letting Yugi take his place as the pain returned, getting him to take in short breaths before trying to focus his own breathing. The pressure on his whole body, on himself, felt like someone was putting more and more pressure to see where the breaking point of something was, only they weren’t being slow about it.

“I-it’s my turn,” he managed, feeling like part of him was cracking under the weight, the pain getting nearly unbearable as he drew a card.

 _Other me...use this...to defeat…_ ”I play one card...face-down...and...Feral Imp...in...defense mode.”

Relinquished had the Dark Magician, and was going to use it as a shield no matter what. But his other half _had_ to finish this, had to fix everything...the card face-down on the table would fix it…

He briefly saw the spectre of his other self, trying to shield him from the blast as the Feral Imp was destroyed, the feel of something breaking causing him to fall down onto the table, unable to stay awake even in his own mind.

\--

Yugi dropped, his last thought about using the face-down card to defeat Pegasus ringing between their Soul Rooms. In the corridor, his aibou’s room was dark, hardly any light coming from it, and Yami found a sudden tightness in his chest that the Shadows couldn’t create, no matter how weak he’d felt.

“...wake up,” he muttered, slowly reaching down to touch the fragile soul he’d once considered nothing, that he’d contemplated overpowering and taking over when the time was right...that he’d gotten to know, that had shown itself to be strong and brave in the face of any challenge. He had faced down evil for this soul, had taken in a great deal of hatred into his heart for what had happened to Yugi’s grandfather because he’d been too proud to ask for help, and had been unwilling to look for it. Now, to see what would have happened if he’d not decided to try to work with Yugi, to watch him slowly fade as he’d once waited for the soul to do...

“WAKE UP!” Yami shouted, finally cradling the other soul against his chest, trying to figure out a way to give it strength despite how dark it’s Room had become. Light only went out in a Soul Room if the soul itself was…

“Looks like that useless roommate you share your body couldn’t survive a Shadow Game. Not that I expected him to, as weak as he was.”

“ _You shut your mouth, you lying sack of shit!_ ” Jounouchi’s voice cut through the Shadows, as if echoing off something else that was in the distance, “ _Yugi! Wake up! Don’t you dare die on me!_ ”

“You little friend has a big mouth,” Pegasus muttered as Yami slowly put the soul of his other self down, taking charge of the body and letting his anger take hold. He had to think, yes...but right now, he had no ability to calm himself.

_You hurt my partner, my other self, for no other reason than to do harm. You threaten my friends and the friends and family of my other self, of my better half…_

“Pegasus,” Yami growled, part of the darkness in the shadows still smug while the rest backed away in fear and terror, grovelling before him in a way that Pegasus should have noticed but didn’t, high as he was on power, “I will _never_ forgive you!”

\--

_It’s dark, and he can see nothing but the back of the card he’d pulled. He’s holding it, tight against his chest, hiding it from the dark thing that is trying to claw into him and take it away. He couldn’t let anyone but his other self see, and his other self was fighting, was in despair, and…_

_“ **Little star** ,” a calm voice, with the sound of something deep and ancient behind it, spoke to him quietly, the deep sound of something large breathing scaring away the dark things that had clawed at him, “ **you need to help your other.** ”_

_He couldn’t, he was so tired, he couldn’t move, and...and his own card could save them. But his other self needed help...and he couldn’t…_

_“ **I can stop the Mind Scan, but only for one card. Do you understand? I can’t let anyone know I’m here, not yet. I have much to do.** ”_

_So long as she could help, so long as his other self won, managed to defeat Pegasus and saved the others...he would accept any help._

_\--_

**Katsuye...I need your help.**

Jounouchi was silent despite the sudden voice in her head, the strange sound echoing like a lion’s roar in a cage. But she _knew_ that voice from somewhere…

_The monster in the museum, the Sphinx...that was your monster._

**You know me well, Katsuye. I need your help. I might need the help of the others as well, but they can’t hear me like you can.**

She frowned at that as Yami drew a card, confident and glaring Pegasus down. _Why not?_

**Because they have not touched the Millennium Item as I have, and for all they are friends with Yugi and Yami, they are not seen by the Shadows as _equals._**

While that made her almost bristle in anger, she still closed her eyes and concentrated. The Sphinx from before whipped it’s tail when it saw her, like a cat happy to see it’s owner or contemplating murder, the grin of sharp teeth unworldly in a human mouth. It lead her and the subconscious thoughts of everyone to a corridor, where two doors stood, one with the odd eye from the Puzzle adorning it, another with a small, almost dimmed firefly-light inside. In the main corridor, holding two cards against his chest and curled against an oncoming darkness and similar eye to the one on the door, was Yugi.

Anzu’s subconscious quickly went to comfort it, as did Bakura’s...while Honda’s moved to put up a barrier between it and the darkness, Mai joining them as Jounouchi looked back at the Sphinx one last time before stepping forward and _glaring_ down the darkness, her hands curled into fists. Behind all of them, instead of the Sphinx or something similar, a pair of dark, blood-red eyes glowed as a dragon roared, the final hurdle to be crossed to get a look at the card.

She could see Pegasus’ surprise in a weird double-vision, and her mind supplied what was needed as her spirit-body said in English, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon roaring behind her, “BACK THE FUCK OFF.”

\--

Yami pushed aside his fear and confusion at what happened, instead accepting the help from his friends as they pushed Pegasus out of his mind, keeping the card he’d drawn, and the card Yugi had played, a secret for the moment while he worked to deal with the Relinquished monster. If he was right, if he trusted his partner and their luck, then what he needed was indeed in the face-down card.

The quick succession of magic cards were enough to grant him control of Relinquished and the Bomb monster, and the face-down card was, indeed, the Ritual card used to transform Dark Magician into the Magician of Black Chaos. Pegasus looked surprised and almost afraid of what would happen, and while his friends were protecting him from the Mind Scan, Yami also knew that Pegasus would do his best to level up or power up Relinquished, once Mind Control was over for that turn.

“I place one card face-down, and summon Kuriboh in Defense mode.”

Pegasus looked disgusted at the appearance of Kuriboh, but did play the cards that Yami suspected he would, turning Relinquished into Thousand-Eyes Restrict and quickly gloating over his apparent victory.

“I told my aibou I would win with the card he left me...and I plan on doing that,” Yami told him coldly. Even without knowing what the added power of the Thousand-Eyes Idol would do, he knew that he could win this game.

Pegasus snorted and activated the idol’s Eyes, locking Kuriboh and the Magician in place before he tried to use the Evil Eye to pull in the Magician. He didn’t seem to realize that Yugi had even played the Magic Card which had so angered Kaiba in their last Duel, and Yami smirked when he saw the look of horror on Pegasus’ face as the Thousand-Eyes Restrict was blinded and, having used its one attempt to absorb and now without any attack or defense points, was unable to stop the Magician of Black Chaos’ attack.

He felt the others disappear from his mind, the Shadows allowing them to go as his other self’s power, the feel of his soul once more strong and ready, touched him briefly. He allowed Yugi to take control, the end of the game marking the end of the pressure and power needed to maintain the figures of the monsters.

“Pegasus,” Yugi said, getting Pegasus to look suddenly very surprised and afraid at Yugi’s apparent resurrection from near-death, “we win.”

The cheers from nearby were all that Yami knew to see that the others were fine, and feeling the Shadows shift to his control, he knew that what he’d suspected of Pegasus was true. He had used up his control and strength to fight this battle, thinking he would gain control of one more soul to feed the Shadows. Now, there was every possibility he wouldn’t survive the short time given to him for losing the game, and for losing it while using the Shadows so badly.

“So that is the power of the Puzzle…to have two souls together as one…”

“No,” Yami said, looking at him with a bit of pity, “Even I do not know the true power of it. You are stalling…release the ones you’ve trapped, Pegasus, and tell me how you’ve come to the Millennium Eye.”

\--

His name was Aiden. He and his sister, Cyndia, were the son and daughter of a man that owned a huge casino in Las Vegas. Both were beautiful, but Pegasus only had eyes for Aiden. Cyndia had understood and helped them however she could, working to keep their secret from two families that wouldn’t understand. Pegasus found himself drawn to both in his own way, and inspired to pain or draw various scenes with them in it.

It was Aiden who had introduced Pegasus to the various points of Egyptology, as Aiden himself wished to learn more about Egypt and to study there, when he could. He had smiled at Pegasus while explaining, the books and information about the dynasties and history of such a place making him shine like the Sun. The two had managed to become as legally responsible for each other as possible when Cyndia fell ill, the two staying by her side for the weeks the illness took to kill her. Aiden had taken comfort in the ideas of the afterlife that he’d found, in the idea that, one day, he’d see his sister again and be reunited.

Neither had expected to be attacked, and Pegasus had not thought his father would sink so low as to order some of his thugs to beat up them both. They hardly spoke before this, but apparently that had been enough to signal something that his father had disliked.

When Pegasus woke up, it was to learn that his beloved had died on the way to the hospital. It was also, sadly, to face down his father and break from the family forever.

Enough followed him to ruin his family, and while Aiden and Cyndia had not been certain of their own parent’s wishes, they had ultimately searched their hearts and accepted Aiden for who he was, and helped Pegasus however they could. Industrial Illusions had been a way to get back at his family, but it had not kept Pegasus from the depression that any would feel, having lost a loved one.

So he took the trip that he had been planning, and went to Egypt on his own, hoping that there, he might gain some inspiration, something to help him focus. He had already started Duel Monsters, because Aiden had told him about the occult and because card games were always lucrative, but thus far, there had been nothing to help him remain.

He finally traveled off on his own, to a village named Kul Elna, he witnessed a man trying to escape with a strange pendant, and a man who looked perpetually young, with old eyes, with an Ankh necklace, who told him that they were going to punish the man for stealing a sacred artifact.

Too much of what Aiden said, of what he’d explained about Egypt and the artifacts there, of the history of lost value and treasures and ones that were only recently regained, inspired him to follow the strange man. He didn’t realize that the men were leading him to an underground temple, that they would try to make the thief accept the Millennium Ring (or vice versa), or the pain he would endure in order to prove his worth to accept the Millennium Eye.

But while he was bleeding, screaming at the power that was coursing through him, he was asked what he wished.

_I want to see Aiden again. I want to be with him._

With a flash of light, and a strange doorway he knew only he could see, Pegasus saw Aiden again, and embraced him for a second, before it was all gone.

“Your wish will come true,” the man told him, his eyes blank in a way that made Pegasus believe him, “but we have lost too many items. You must do the work I ask of you, so that we might find the lost items that have been taken from this place, and return them. Once that is done, you will have the power for any wish to come true.”

\--

Pegasus slumped on the table, having sent his men away and knowing Croquet could deal with the company. He had not expected to lose…but he should have prepared for it. Instead, his drive to see Aiden again, his attempt to do anything needed in order to gain power, had failed.

A deep, dark sound, like a giant cat prowling, sounded close to his ear. He looked up and came face-to-face with a pair of tawny eyes that reminded him of a lioness he’d once seen at a zoo, and another one who’d eaten a circus performer.

“Your wish is granted.”

Pegasus blinked as a hand moved to his face, and even though he expected pain or something similar, instead…he saw light, and that doorway again…and Aiden…

\--

The Spirit of the Ring growled as he came across the dead shell of Pegasus, blood pouring out of the eye socket where the Eye had once been. The other spirit had not taken his reward when he and the others had gone to check on the Kaibas, and he’d said he would go and try to find some way off the island, or to see if he couldn’t find Kaiba somewhere.

The Spirit put the replica Eye down on the table, stalking away and muttering about his luck. He had to find the new owner, and see if they weren’t up for a game or two with him.

He frowned as his search for a way off the island yielded nothing at all - it appeared Pegasus had a small staff on-hand, and most of them were already gone after they’d finished giving up the money and whatever else they had to. He wasn’t that surprised by the cowardice, but it irked him that they now had no way off the island, let alone that he had no clue who had taken Pegasus’ Millennium Item before the man’s death. He finally made his way back to the entrance to the castle, seeing everyone but Jounouchi and the brat outside, and he quickly let Bakura take over, waiting just outside his conscious in case he needed to stop him from saying anything.

“Where’s Jounouchi and Mokuba?” his other self asked, frowning as he walked up.

“Jounouchi is waiting for Mokuba to wake up,” Anzu told him, shifting and looking a bit sad. “She said she didn’t think there should be a crowd, in case…in case he was traumatized.”

“That’s because I know how you guys are,” Jounouchi said, appearing with Mokuba as they headed down the stairs, Mokuba lugging his brother’s briefcase with him, “You’d have crowded around him all happy he was awake and scared him.”

Mokuba is silent, shifting and looking over at Yami, who thus far has been in control. The spirit knows that a weakened soul could be manipulated, but he also knows that Yami seems to have a soft-spot for his ‘other self’, and thus wouldn’t allow him back until he was strong enough. Being hurt in a Shadow Game could leave scars, or it could make the soul stronger…either way, it was something to exploit later.

It didn’t take long before the doors opened a final time, and Kaiba himself walked out.

\--

When Kaiba had woken up, he’d been confused, blinking and trying to figure out where he was. For a moment, he thought he was being punished by Gozaburo, that he’d been placed down in one of the concrete and stone rooms that he’d used when the sadist had thought Kaiba was being too ‘pampered’ by his ability to have a good night’s sleep or be near his brother. He’d sat up in fear and confusion, because Gozaburo was _dead_ , and had to blink as, for a moment, he saw a strange animal nearby watching over him, a mix of an eagle and a large feline, the tail whipping around as if bored while the wings stretched up and then back. It tilted its head at him, as if curious as to what had happened to make him start, and then jumped off the stone table it had been resting on, the talons clicking on the concrete ground in an almost disturbing way. Kaiba found himself frozen, watching the strange animal as it flexed it’s wings once more before they pushed down strong, sending a gust of wind at him that made him close his eyes, the dust of the place irritating him enough that he almost let out a sneeze. When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on a bed inside of the castle, blinking as he looked around and tried to get his bearings. How had he gotten here?

_More importantly...what happened?_

If he’s awake instead of in pain or darkness, that meant that somehow, he’s freed. Since he wasn’t being approached by any of the muscle that Pegasus had hired before, that also meant that Pegasus had lost.

_Which means Yugi won, and...and asked that we’d be freed._

It was not something that Kaiba had quite expected, at least not when he’d arrived here. After the duel in order to get into the castle, and that speech that the blond woman and that mutt had given, he suspected the ‘other’ Yugi had been guilted into it. Still, it meant he _owed_ him a favor...and Kaiba hated _owing_ people anything. Not monetarily, of course...he could easily pay people off if that was what they required, but in the sense of something like saving him, his brother, and his company from being taken over by a megalomaniac who used a stacked deck.

At least with Burn and Virus-based decks, there was always the chance of a comeback to one side. Pegasus had created cards _specifically_ to humiliate Kaiba and Yugi, and to make it impossible for them to counteract. If anyone _could_ make it past that stupid Toon World and other cards that Pegasus had, Kaiba was sure it would be Yugi. He had enough combinations in his Deck to defeat nearly anyone and to fight back no matter what the handicap, and Kaiba was beginning to think he should at least get something similar in his own Deck.

It doesn’t take long for him to leave the room, wincing and cursing at how stiff he was. He’d need to do a bit more therapy when he got back and dealt with the Big Five, so he wouldn’t have to worry as much about what a year of being a vegetable had done to him.

He doesn’t pause as he heads downstairs, something drawing him to the main exit and out of the quiet castle. The place feels to quiet, and he wonders at the strange feeling of unease before he finally exits and get out into the sun, standing on the top of the stairs to look down.

To one side is the other Yugi and his friends, talking about something, with the blond Duelist standing nearby. Off to the side, pacing a bit, is Mokuba and the mutt, who has knelt down to talk to him before the two look up and see him.

He blinks as he spots the resemblence that Mokuba had been talking about, back during the Death-T tournament. She’s kneeling next to him, like she is in the photo that Mokuba put in the necklace he left on Kaiba, and smiling up at him. _She’s Katsuye…_

“Nii-sama!” Mokuba yells, dropping the case and racing up the stairs, Kaiba moving down a few only so he can catch his little brother as he launches himself at him. The moment he does, pulling his little brother close, he can feel something inside of him heal, as if finally fixed. He looks down to see Katsuye bringing up his case, putting it next to them as she manages a smile at him. He wonders how much that must take, after all he’s said and done. Some part of him still isn’t sure about her place at his side, even if Mokuba is set on bringing her back in. The two have changed too much, since that first, rushed kiss before Katsuye disappeared and Gozaburo took them as his adopted sons.

“I suppose you want me to thank you,” he settles on being uncertain and annoyed, not wanting to let go of Mokuba. His brother’s tightened grip says the feeling’s mutual, at least.

“I think we’d settle for a ride off this island,” she told him, “and I didn’t do anything, anyway.”

“You helped me, when I escaped,” Mokuba said, turning to look at her then up at Kaiba. “Nii-sama, she helped me out and she gave me food and...and…”

“And she saved me,” Kaiba said, getting Mokuba to take in a breath and Katsuye to look at him with a strange, dubious look. He understood her reasoning - he had called her some bad things before, when he’d still been angry and focused on only getting Mokuba back and not thinking about the big-picture, about what else was going on. “I would say you did a great deal...for someone so new at this game.”

She’s silent before saying, “So...about that ride off this island? Bakura said that Pegasus’ men were assholes and didn’t leave us a way off.”

He isn’t that surprised, and finally nods, standing with Mokuba before the trio head down the steps, Kaiba and Yugi glaring at each other. Kaiba finally says, “I get you off this place, we’re even. Everything starts fresh.”

Yugi blinks, and finally nods, managing a smile that doesn’t look calculating or a smirk of any sort. “If you say so, Kaiba. I doubt it will work like that.”

“It probably won’t,” he says, leading them back to where the helicopter was, “but we can try, and anyway, you said I was supposed to be a different person, after...whatever you did.” And after the painful way his soul had been taken after he’d lost to Pegasus, Kaiba could at least admit that Yugi was _nice_ about his punishments.

“True,” Yugi muttered, and finally nodded. “Then when we land, we’ll start anew.”

Happy for the start, and with Mokuba breaking away from Kaiba to talk to Katsuye, Kaiba now saw that a new start might be needed. _I’ve been far too mean to her, thinking like Gozaburo. I have to change that...and see about making her and Mokuba happy. The way they’re acting, that might be needed._

The fit was tight, but everyone managed to get into the helicopter, Mokuba somehow managing to sit in a place that put him near Kaiba and Katsuye, smiling and talking to both over the sound of the blades while Anzu and Honda muttered to each other, Mai flirting with anyone she could and getting most of them to blush. She finally smiled and leaned down to whisper something to Mokuba that got his little brother to light up in a way that Kaiba hadn’t seen in years, and he made his decision there.

_I will no longer live in Gozaburo’s shadow. I have people who I can be friends with, who helped Mokuba and who have allowed Mokuba to be happy. I would rather have that than be alone...and I have the ability to make their lives better._

He met Yugi’s eyes briefly, seeing his rival smirk a bit at him in a more friendly way. The rivalry born from anger and misunderstanding seemed to be gone, and he understood now that Yugi was going to see him as the rival that he would strive to beat, but also who he would work with to deal with any danger that might come.

\--

The eye was once more tacky with blood, but glittered in the sunlight as it fell from where she’d tossed it, easily landing in the palm of her hands. Next to her, the Sphinx and Griffin all but purred, as if happy about the outcome, as they watched the helicopter leave the island. If the Eye wasn’t important for the ritual, she would have thrown it away or had it melted down. As it was, the loss of Pegasus and his money was going to make Shadii desperate enough to visit Japan again, or to direct the crazed boy he’d let out towards this place.

 _I’ll have to see about delaying that without drawing too much attention to myself_ , she thought as the sound of a slightly-angry Chimera made her turn, smirking a bit and reaching out to let it sniff the Eye. “At least the former power-base of that crazed madman is gone. So, my dears, should we head home?”

Layla looked back once more at the deserted island, and melted into the Shadows, heading back to her apartment to prepare for Katsuye’s return home, and for the work they had to get done in order to heal Shizuka.

 


End file.
